The Wrath of Vengeance
by Laughs4life
Summary: Diego gets a plesent surprise from Shira. However, when Gutt and the crew are out to get her, the herd must once again set out on the seas and save Shira from their wrath. I do not own Ice Age or any of the characters!
1. Prologue

**Alrighty, I present to you _The Wrath of Vengance. Enjoy!_**

The sky was in it's foggiest nightime form. The waves splashed in their normal motion after the storm that had just occurred. No one would probably be able to survive such a weather. No one but the rag tag crew who was not afraid of anything. Living their lives on the seas toughened them up. It was as if it had taken away all their feelings that were sympathy, kindness and remorse. As if it had completley turned their hearts into stone. And it was all led by one, cruel, massive, merciless ape named Captain Gutt. The crew had lived their lives as happy, wealthy pirates until one fateful day, the tables had turned on it all thanks to a herd who they had underestimated.

Many weeks had passed after the events of the continential drift. When Gutt was thought to be devoured by sirens, he had miraculously lived through this attack. Days later while out on their ship, the crew had found him adrift in the ocean on an iceburg. Despite their hesitation, the crew had rescued their captain at the command of Squint. However, despite surving the sirens, Gutt's near death experience left him traumatized and scarred both physically and mentally. His left leg was replaced with a peg leg, a scar was over his left eye and bald spots were all over his fur because of obvious reasons. All Gutt was able to do now was eat, sleep and talk. The once scary, fearful and rueful captain now became a fearful and somewhat deranged monkey who sat in his quarters alone, ignored any company unless it was someone giving him food and still had the terrifing flashbacks in his sleep. The new Gutt led the rest of the crew to argue whether they should throw him overboard or let him stay and wait for his old self to come back.

"I still think rescuing him was a huge mistake." said Raz one evening.

"Oh come on Raz," rasped Squint. "Have you no heart?"

"No, none of us do."

"She has a point about _that._" pointed out Gupta.

"But seriously, Gutt was afloat on an iceburg, all alone and seriously scarred. What else were we supposed to do?" questioned Squint.

"I'm in agreement with Raz on that." admitted Silas. "What was the point of rescuing him when he's crazy and delusional?"

"We just gotta give him some time and he'll be back to himself in no time!" said Gupta.

"Thank you Gupta!" sighed Squint.

"It's been weeks!" protested Raz. "What on Earth make you think that he'll be back to normal soon?!"

"As the captain who's back to first mate because we founf our old captain I say he will! We just need to have patience. Something that we have always been lacking." answered Squint. _Particularly you _he thought to himself.

"Squint is right!" piped Flynn who was as ignorant as ever. "He's always right!"

"See, Flynn agrees with me!" Squint still tried to get Raz to see reason.

"I'm sorry but last time I checked I don't recall EASTER BUNNIES with CUTE, TWITCHING noses being in charge of a crew." Raz said those specific words with emphasis to purposley taunt the rabbit.

Squint's ears automatically shot up and his nose started twitching angrily once Raz mentioned the things he never wanted to be called in his life.

"GRR!" growled Squint. "Why I oughta...!" and he had immediatley lunged at the kangaroo.

Meanwhile Gutt was in his chambers. He tossed and turned in his sleep muttering "sirens, sirens, sirens". He was having the flashback again.

_Gutt painfully groaned as he struggled to get up on the floating chunk of ice. He suddenly saw an intense glow coming from a clam shell opening up revealing a silohette. _

"_Oh Captain Gutt." a female voice sang from the clam._

"_That's me." Gutt sighed dreamingly. He then climbed onto the clam shell and saw a beautiful female who was his exact species holding fruit in her hands._

"_Let's rule the seas together." the female sighed to him._

_Gutt said nothing. He just grinned and chuckled goofily. Unfortunatley for him the female turned out to be a siren who right after revealing her true form snatched him by the face and pulled him in. The clam shell then shut tight and shook, proving the attack going on in there. Thanks to his strength, Gutt had fought the siren once he had snapped out with the little strength he had left. Although Gutt was victorious in the battle, he had scarred himself forever._

As that flashback ended, Gutt had another one. This one involved Shira, his former first mate who proved her softness by not killing the herd and commited treason against him by helping the herd escape.

"Shira." Gutt mumbled in his sleep.

Then he recalled his moment of defeat. As the battle went on, the female saber went to free Ellie, Manny's wife who had happened to be one of the mammoths captured. The second being their daughter Peaches.

Gutt started growling at that event.

"SHIRA!" he angrily snarled as he snapped his eyes open. Thanks to that flashback, Gutt had a new plan in mind.

Squint and Raz were still fighting like immature little children while the rest of the crew was laughing in ammusment.

"Squint, Raz fighting never solves anything!" cried Flynn trying to get them to stop.

"But we are pirates," acknowlegded Silas. "So for us, fighting solves _everything_."

"Oh yeah." Flynn remembered cluelessy.

"ENOUGH!" snapped a deep voice. Everyone including Squint and Raz turned to see Gutt with his arms crossed and his usual hostile facial expression.

"Captain!" cried Gupta happily. "You're alright!"

"Of course I am you mindless badger!" snapped back Gutt. "Now, set a course for Switchback Cove. We have some unfinished buisness to take care of."

"Aye, aye Captain!" Squint eagerly replied.

"He's back!" the rest of the crew cheered.

"Ha! I told you!" bragged Squint to Raz. "Who's the bunny now?!"

The ship was turned in the direction of Switchback Cove. The evil gleam in Gutt's eyes had returned.

"I'm coming for you traitor." he growled.

**Yeah I know it's short. I just have so much on my hands that I have limited time to write. I'll update whenever I can! Plus sorry if I sucked writing as the pirates. It's my first time doing so. Please review! And be honest but nice.**


	2. A Saber's Feelings

**Here's chapter one, you know what to do! **

Shira sat in place staring out into the horizen. The mountain top she was sitting on had a very beautiful view of the ocean. Especially during night time when the moonlight reflected onto the waters making them shiny and exotic. Shira couldn't believe the adventure they have gone through just before their arrival. It seemed like many weeks ago when the herd arrived at Switchback Cove after their odyssey during the splitting of the continents. All the events seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. Shira recalled to herself how she was the former first mate of the cruel, merciless Captain Gutt and his band of pirates whose personality was equal to his. Shira had never saw behind her colleaques until she was rescued from drowning by Manny, Sid, Diego, and Granny, the last group of animals she wanted to come in contact with.

"Hi." Shira heard a male voice behind her. She turned around to see Diego walking up to her dragging a gazelle in his mouth.

"Hey handsome." Shira greeted Diego with a warm smile on her face and affectionatley rubbed her head against his. The two sabers were now proud to say that after weeks and weeks of romance, they were officially mates.

"I caught us some dinner. Want some?"

"Thanks."

The saber couple dug into their gazelle. Bones were left over in just a few minutes.

"Beautiful night huh?" asked Shira after swallowing.

"Yeah." replied Diego. "Not as beautiful as you though."

"You're just saying that."

"No, I mean it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're the prettiest, smartest, nicest girl I have ever met. I couldn't ask for a better mate."

"Yeah you tell her!" Diego and Shira heard a familiar female voice call out.

"Katie, be quiet! We don't want to be blown!" another voice came from the same source as the first one.

Peaches walked out from behind the tall trees with Steffie, Katie and Megan.

"Sorry you two." apologized Peaches. "We were on our way out for girls night and you guys sounded so romantic that we couldn't help but eavesdrop!"

Diego couldn't be angry at Peaches and her friends for that. He couldn't be angry at her for _anything._ Plus girls at this age love romance. Despite that, Diego still let her know that he wanted to be alone with Shira.

"Alright ladies, show's over." Diego told the female mammoths truthfully but firmly. "Carry on."

"Alright. We'll leave you two alone." said Peaches as she walked off with her friends.

"Now where were we?" Diego asked Shira.

"That you couldn't ask for a better mate." Shira reminded Diego.

"Yeah. I really mean it Shira. I-"

"Precious!" Diego was interuppted by Granny who wandered kept calling for her pet. "Where are you baby?"

Diego sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't mind Sid's grandmother so much anymore but the times where she would annoy him did come. Like right now.

"Have you two seen Precious?"the old sloth asked the couple.

"No sorry Granny we haven't." answered back Shira.

"Oh. On second thought, you two are starting to sound very interesting and I'm running short on entertainment so I'll just stay with you two and watch."

"Uh Granny, as much as we love having you here." explained Diego with some sarcasm, "We really want to be alone."

"We are alone!" Granny pointed out, not completley getting what Diego was trying to tell her. "Now show some more romance you big sissies!"

"Hey I think I hear Precious!" Shira quickly said.

"Really? Then I'm coming for him!" Granny then walked off.

"Phew. You're a life saver." Diego sighed relieved. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." Shira replied. "So you were saying?"

"I was saying I-"

"You've got good taste with the females Diego!" Diego whipped his head furiously to see Sid, Crash, and Eddie peeping out from the trees.

"Hold on to this one buddy! She's a keeper!" added in Sid.

"Diego and Shira sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-"

Eddie's mocking singing was caught off by Diego who was getting really irritated now. "ALRIGHT THAT'S IT! EVERYBODY OUT!" the saber snapped loudly (think Francis from a Bug's Life who was also voiced by Denis Leary for those of you who didn't know) "IS IT REALLY THAT HARD FOR YOU MORONS TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE WANT SOME ALONE TIME?!"

Sid, Crash, and Eddie ran off in terror, sobbing. Diego then turned around to see Shira staring at him. Since he yelled in front of his mate, he went from furious to embarassed.

"I'm uh sorry you had to see that." Diego apologized softly to Shira.

"It's fine. I don't blame you." replied Shira. "Let's go somewhere a little more... private."

Thunder clasped in the sky and rain drop fell out of the clouds.

"And dry." Diego pointed out. The two sabers ran off to look for a much drier place for themselves. After a few minutes of looking, they found the perfect spot. The tree where Shira was imprisoned after the herd saved her.

"How about in there?" suggested Diego. "It's dry and cozy in there. Plus it brings back memories."

"I don't see why not." grinned Shira as she and Diego walked through the hole made in the tree by Shira after her escape.

"So Shira as I was saying before," Diego picked up from where he left off after he and Shira sat down on the ground which had started growing different kinds of flora. "You are without a doubt the best mate any saber could ever have. Meeting you was one of the best things that ever happened in my life. I'm just going to cut to the chase. I love you Shira."

Shira was touched. She felt as if she was going to cry tears of joy. Something that she hasn't done a long time ago.

"You really feel that way about me Diego?" she asked with her voice starting to break.

"I really do kitty."

"I love you too softy." Shira responded truthfully.

The two sabers gave each other a numerous amount of affectionate nuzzles and licks. They then snuggled besides each other and went to sleep.

**And done! I was so touched when I wrote this chapter I almost cried tears of joy myself! Thanks to a half day today, very little homework and my excitement for my birthday today, I was able to finish this in a breeze! I hope you all enjoyed it! Keep looking out for more updates! Please review!**


	3. Surprise

**Chapter 3. RER! (Read, enjoy, review)**

Diego squinted as the morning light shone in through the hole into his eyes. Although he and Shira went to bed at the same time, they were both really tired. In the middle of the night, Diego awoke to the sound of Shira groaning in pain. She had been coming down with cramps. Diego spent most of his night trying to comfort her as she kept feeling worse and worse. Eventually, Shira fell asleep but kept Diego awake by still moaning about her cramps in her sleep. Diego didn't want to wake her up again because he felt like bringing them up would make Shira feel worse about them.

The orange saber opened his eyes and turned to see his mate sleeping soundly. Not wanting to disturb her peaceful slumber, he slowly and quietly tip-toed out of the tree to go out hunting.

About half an hour later, Diego came back dragging a stag. He peeked in the tree to see Shira now awake. She wasn't complaining about her cramps anymore which was a good sign.

"Good morning beautiful." Diego greeted his mate.

"Morning." Shira replied to him.

"You feeling better?"

"Yeah. Way better thanks for asking."

"Breakfast?"

"Thanks."

Much to Diego's surprise, Shira ate the entire stag with such haste. He stared at her with such disbelief.

"Is everything okay?" Shira asked looking at Diego's shocked expression with concern.

"Yeah." answered Diego. "It's just that..."

"Just what?"

"You ate that stag within a blink of the eye."

"You got a problem with that?" asked Shira with attitude. "I'm just hungry so don't bug me about it!"

"No, no. No problem at all." Diego replied quickly. "But I brought it so that the two of us could share it."

"So it's all about you now is it?" Shira responded more firey that before. "You are so selfish that everytime we have food you hog it to yourself anyway! I'm only returning the favor!"

"What's wrong with you today?" asked Diego stressed out from Shira's negative comments today. He quickly regretted asking that question when he saw Shira about to burst at him again. As Diego braced himself for more nagging, he saw Shira about to spill tears down her face.

"I'm so sorry Diego!" she sobbed. "I don't know what's wrong with me! It's bad enough I annoyed you with the cramps last night, I didn't want to do it again with this!"

"Don't be ridiculous Shira, you can never annoy me!" stated Diego otherwise. "I'm sorry I brought the stag up-"

"Oh now you restorted to blaming yourself for my bad mood! It's all my fault!" cried Shira. "I'm a bad mate!"

"No, no, no, no you're not a bad mate!" Diego protested truthfully. "Really you're not! We all get up on the wrong side of the bed. That happened to me a lot of times."

"Really?" squeaked Shira through her tears.

"Really. Everything's fine. Now you want me to get you anything?"

"Please just leave me alone for a few minutes. I don't want to freak out on you again."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Why don't you use that time to catch something else for yourself?"

"I don't know about leaving you alone like-"

"Just go, I'm not a child!"

"Okay I'm leaving." Diego then took off quick as lightning partially in fear of Shira. He had no idea why she was acting this way. Shira was feisty but not like that. He decided to see an expert in this. And he knew just who.

…

"Hey tiger." greeted Manny. "Where have you been?

"Out." Diego answered.

"With Shira huh? So how did you go? I heard you flipped out on Sid, Crash and Eddie last night."

"That's what they get for spying on and teasing a saber."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Manny, can I ask you a question? A woman question?"

"Sure anything."

"Shira was acting really weird today."

"Weird how?"

At the same time Shira was lying in the hollow tree alone just like she requested to Diego. She felt guily for snapping at him and acting like a baby. _What's the matter with you?! _She chewed herself out. _Diego really cares for you and you thank him by throwing a tantrum and bawling in front of him. You should be ashamed of yourself!_

"Shira?" she heard a familiar voice call gently to her. She lifted her head to see Ellie in front of her.

"Hi Ellie." Shira greeted her mammoth friend.

"How was your night?"

"Very pleasant thank you. Just one problem."

"What happened?"

"Ellie, do you mind if I ask you something? It's kind of personal."

"Sure, I'm there for you."

..

"Is it normal for a female to get a little..." Diego couldn't think of a word. "Crazy?"

"That depends how you define crazy." retorted Manny "So what happened with Shira?"

..

"Have you ever acted weird before?" asked Shira.

"What do you mean?" asked Ellie.

..

"She had cramps last night, and today she ate an entire stag faster than possible and when I told her she freaked out and snapped on me. Then she started crying and apologizing to me for being a bad mate." Diego explained to Manny.

"So cramps, cravings and mood swings huh?" asked Manny.

"Yeah pretty much." replied Diego.

"Sounds familiar."

"Familiar? How?"

"How close did you exactly get with Shira last night?"

..

"I got serious cramps in the middle of the night, I yelled at Diego today and now I suddenly feel like having fish." Shira told Ellie.

"Hmm." Ellie looked deep in thought for a moment. "I remember having those things a few years ago. Minus the fish craving." the female mammoth asked another question. Did you happen to get... close to Diego last night?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Shira.

…

"We happened to get pretty close." replied Diego, "But what do you mean it sounds familiar?"

"This happened before Ellie-" Manny stopped for a moment to put two and two together. "Oh I know what's going on."

"What is it?"

"I saw Ellie go through this before."

"Tell me!"

"Congrats daddy." grinned Manny.

"What are you-" Diego finally got what Manny meant.

"You mean?"

Manny nodded.

..

"It was after a night out with Manny. I started feeling all the side affects, then it hit me." Ellie recalled.

"When was that?" asked Shira.

"About a few months before Peaches came along."

Shira finally got the picture.

"Wait, so you're telling me that I'm..."

"Sure am sweetheart."

..

"Wait, wait wait." stuttered Diego still surprised. "All those things are-, Shira is-, I'm a-." He was so shocked that he wasn't able to finish his sentences.

"Let it out buddy." Manny told him. "We all want to."

"YEAH! I'M GONNA BE A DAD!" Diego cheered excitedly. "I'M GOING TO HAVE CUBS!"

"Dial it down." Manny whispered to Diego as he pointed to the other animals stared at him.

"Right."

"First timer." Manny explained to the other animals. "Move along."

"I can't wait to see the look on Shira's face when I tell her!"

"Woah, woah, woah, hold it right there pussy cat." Manny stopped his joyful friend. "First rule of pregnancy, you wait for the female to tell you. They like surprising you with stuff like that."

"They do?"

"Yeah they do. When Shira tells you you act surprised. As if you weren't expecting it. Got it?"

"Got it." Diego replied and walked off. Now that he knew why Shira was acting like that, it was all worth it.

..

"So I'm going to be a-a-a-a-" Shira was so excited that she couldn't even say the word.

"Mother?" Ellie filled in for Shira.

"Yeah. I can't believe it! I never thought I would be one but I'm so happy!"

"You have every right to be."

"Another question."

"What is it?"

"Should I tell Diego?"

"Oh yeah! Tell him! Males love getting surprised with stuff like that. I remember the look on Manny's face when he found out. Priceless!"

"Alright! Thanks Ellie!"

"No problem. If you have any questions I'm there for you, remember that!" Ellie called to Shira as she ran off to tell Diego the news.

…

Both sabers ran so fast that they bumped into each other.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Diego!" Shira quickly apologized for the third time today.

"Don't worry about it." replied Diego. "Just be glad we're not mammoths." Shira chuckled at his joke.

"So are we alright now?" asked Diego.

"Yeah. In fact, I've got something to tell you." announced Shira.

"Oh? And what would that be?" asked Diego. He knew exactly what.

Shira walked up closer to Diego and whispered in his ear, "I'm pregnant."

"No way!" Diego remembered Manny's advice and responded in his most surprised way as possible. "You, I, we, we're going to be parents?!"

"We sure are." rejoined Shira. _Wow Ellie wasn't kidding when she said that men love being surprised with it!_

"If this is a dream I hope I never wake up!" sighed Diego. "We've got to tell the rest of the herd!"

Shira nodded her head in agreement and walked away with Diego to deliver the news.

**Once again, finished in a snap! I hope you all liked it! And special shout out for the following people who said "Happy Birthday" to me:**

**cianatl**

**MBSAVfan1**

**KaylaDestroyer**

**and a Guest whose name was not revealed. **

**Thank you so much you guys!**


	4. The Announcement

**Chapter 4. Read and review like you always do!**

Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Sid, Granny, Crash, Eddie and Louis were all standing near the old stub just like Diego and Shira told them to do. They were all talking to each other and wondering why they were standing there.

"I wonder why Diego and Shira want to tell us?" Sid asked his Granny.

"I don't know but it better be important!" complained Granny. "The nerve of you for dragging your grandma out of her nap!" she then struck several blows to Sid's head with her cane. He would be lucky if he wouldn't get a concussion in the next five minutes.

"But yeah I wonder what Uncle Diego and Aunt Shira have to tell us?" asked Peaches.

"I don't know honey," Manny "admitted" to his daughter, "But knowing them I bet it's something exciting."

"I'm sure it is." agreed Ellie. She knew the exact same thing Manny did.

Diego and Shira walked to the direction of the herd. Both of them jumped on to the tree stub. They stood pressed close together and started making their speech. Diego was the first to speak.

"Alright, I know you guys are all wondering why we asked you to come here." he began. "That's because we have an announcement to make. Shira, would you do the honors?"

"I sure would." grinned Shira. She looked at the rest of the herd's curious faces. At first she was too excited to tell everyone. She paused for a few seconds to take a breath and relax.

"Just get on with it already! I ain't got all day!"snapped Granny. The suspense was killing even her.

"I'm pregnant." announced Shira. The herd gasped in surprise and excitement.

"Alright! Way to go! Buddy!" cheered Sid. "I always knew he had it in him." he whispered to Crash and Eddie.

"Congratulations Uncle Diego and Aunt Shira!" Peaches praised her aunt and uncle. "I can't wait to see them!"

"Yeah" added in Louis. "I bet they would be so cute."

"Yeah Diego and Shira!" whooped Crash.

"Congrats!" Eddie joined in. "_Even though I never thought they would be parents."_ he whispered to Crash.

"Alright congratulations you two!" praised Granny. "What a lovely surprise. Now can I go back to sleep Sidney?!"

Sid lead his cranky grandmother to her cave as she kept hitting him in the head with her cane.

"Remember you two, feel free to stop by anytime with questions, concerns or anything." Manny reminded the saber couple.

"We're always there for you." Ellie added in.

Diego and Shira were touched to get such warm responses from their friends and were pleased to know that they are always there to support them. Especially Manny and Ellie who were the experts in it. With all that and their eagerness, Diego and Shira will be able to get through pregnancy in the next three months. Hopefully Diego will be able to survive the mood swings yet to come.

**I know it's short again but this chapter was supposed to focus on Diego and Shira telling the herd the good news. The next few chapters are going to focus on their excitement and nervousness on being parents, the cons of pregnancy for both Diego and Shira and of coarse you-know-who makes a reappearance. Plus I checked the web and I read that tigers are pregnant for 93 to 111 days and I decided to edit "An Ice Age Halloween" a bit so the time can make for sense because if the story is set weeks after the continental drift, Shira's pregnant for three months the least and AIAH takes place six months then I think it would make sense time wise that AIAH takes place ten months after continental drift. And what's ironic about me typing up all this info is I used all this math, something that I am the least good at. :P. So yeah keep a look out for new chapters!**

**Please review! Unless you want Shira coming into your room in the middle of the night and nagging you with her mood swings! (Sorry I just have a lot of randomness packed inside me right now that I have to let it out!) **

**Yours truly,**

**laughs4life **


	5. Fiascos and Kicks

**The ACTUAL chapter 5. R&R!**

Diego's POV

"Diego?" I hear a voice whisper loudly. I slowly open my eyes to see Shira leaning next to me.

"Oh I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" she apologizes. "You can go back to sleep if you want. I can wait until morning."

"No, no it's fine." I insist. It's been almost a month since Shira and I discovered the good news. I told her that if she isn't feeling well or if she needs something, even if it's in the middle of the night, I'm there for her. "Do you need anything?"

"Yeah. Can you get me some water please?" Shira asks me. "I'm thirsty."

"Sure Shira." I reply. "I'll be right back."

I really don't mind doing things for Shira. When a female saber is pregnant, her mate must always be willing to support her and take care of her, and I'm willing.

I take the turtle shell in my mouth and head to the stream. It looks so pretty with the moonlight shining on it. I scoop up some water in the shell and walk back to our cave carefully trying not to spill any of the water out.

"Shira I got your-" when I walked into the cave I was cut off by Shira's painful groaning. I knew that she was getting cramps again. I wasn't surprised.

"Thanks Diego." she thanks me through her groans.

"Cramps?" I ask Shira. She nods.

"Okay you just stay here. I'll go get that plant for you." I tell her.

Ellie told us of this plant that helps ease out any pain, including cramps. It grows just near the stream so the walk wasn't that far.

"Oh goody." replied Shira half sarcastically rolling her eyes. She wanted to get rid of her cramps, but she couldn't stand the taste of it. Once she tried the plant she hated it so much that it made her eyes water and twitch for ten minutes. She said, and I quote "The plant tastes just like Sid smells. Horrible. P. It may not be that long but it was kind of creepy.

"Trust me it's for your health." I assure her as I walk out.

Morning was slowly starting to come as I walked out of the cave to get Shira her medicine. The sun was peeking out of the mountains, the sky was mixed with the darkest and lightest tones of blue, pink, and orange. I walk up to the stream and pluck the dark green, five-leaved plant and head back to Shira.

I've gotta brace myself for this. Shira acted really bratty about eating that plant ever since she first tried it. I tried to get her to eat it once even though she didn't have any cramps, but it was still good to prevent some future ones. However, when I told Shira, she threw a fit about it and said to me in a very crabby tone that she doesn't have any cramps and that I don't need to baby her. Another time she ate it she almost threw it up so I had to get her to gulp it down with water. Ah the joys of mood swings. :(.

"Good morning Diego ol' pal of mine!" Sid greeted to me in his usual cheery voice. "Beautiful day huh?"

"Sure Sid." I reply to him not exactly in the mood to chat yet. He takes a look at the plant in my mouth.

"Shira's got cramps again?" he asks me.

I nod.

"I better get going now, but if there's anything I can do for you just call for me."

That gives me an idea.

"Actually Sid," I say to him. "There is one thing you can help me out with."

He turns back to me. "Really? What is it?"

"Okay, here's the plan," I whisper to his ear. After he is finished explaining everything to him he nods his head in full understanding.

"Just wait outside the cave and I'll call you when I need you." I repeat to him.

"Okie-doke buddy!" Sid replies to me. It really annoys me when he says that, but I'm glad he knew what to do.

…

"No! NOOO!" complained Shira. I had her pinned down on the ground while Sid was standing there waiting for me until I got her to hold still so he could feed the plant to her.

"This hurts me way more than it hurts you." I say to her.

"HOW?!" Shira angrily snaps. "I'M THE ONE WITH STUPID CRAMPS AND GETTING FORCED TO EAT A STUPID PLANT THAT I CAN'T STAND THE STUPID TASTE OF! HOW THE HECK DOES _THAT _HURT YOU MORE STUPID?!" (Oh sweet, sweet Shira)

Hey I didn't want to do this to Shira but she left me with no choice. I was going to see if she was just going to suck it up and eat that stupid plant like a mature adult saber, but she still acted like a spoiled little kid does when it doesn't want to take it's medicine. I tried to get Shira to see reason, but she didn't so I had to hold her down despite her protests.

"Remember, I'm doing this out of love." I try to reassure Shira. _Tough, cruel, love sadly, _I add to myself but it's still love.

"Shut up and let me go!" Shira snapped. As much as I hated to do it, I wrestled her more and tightened my grip on her. Even though all this is going to make her cramps go away, I will never stop beating myself up for being so rough on her.

"Okay Sid I got Shira still." I grunt to Sid. "You know what to do."

"I got it Diego!" Sid replies to me. "Here comes the birdy!" he says to Shira as if he's feeding a baby. He then "flies" the plant near Shira's mouth.

"Sid, Diego if you think I'm eating this then you've got another thing come-" Sid stuffed the plant into Shira's mouth.

"Now chew and swallow." I say to her firmly.

"No way" she mumbles angrily.

"Chew and swallow!" I repeat to her more sternly.

Shira then gets a worried look on her face and quickly swallows, cringing her face in disgust.

"There we go, all better!" Sid cheered to Shira who dangerously growled and roared at him before he ran away.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" I sarcastically ask Shira. It actually was bad for me. Not only did I be so rough with my mate and break my word to never fight girls, I also got scratches all over me to remember it by.

"Diego honey," Shira sighed to me. She seemed to calm down a bit. "I know that you love me and care for me and just want to ease my pain, but... DO THAT AGAIN AND YOU'LL HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO HUNT WITH THREE PAWS! GOT IT?!" I stand corrected. She then spat some unmentionable words in my face and stalked off.

(Phew, I think I'm gonna rate this section of the chapter T for the slight violence. If you're going to start criticizing me for using woman abuse in here, please don't. I'm a woman myself (well a young one as I like to consider it myself) and I am a strong supporter of feminism as it says on my profile. The whole point of this whole fiasco was for Diego to get Shira to take that medicine that's supposed to stop her cramps. He REALLY didn't want to do it and he totally regrets it, but Shira was acting so bratty about it because she hated the taste of it, so I decided to do a comical way for Shira to take the medicine. Before you all say that Diego was violent with her, need I remind you that the poor guy is beating himself up for it and he did not leave any injuries on her, but what else was he supposed to do? (drastic times call for drastic measures). Just to let you know, I am a lover not a fighter and this was all just a one time thing (until of course Gutt shows up). And like both Diego and I said before, he did it out of tough love. He hated seeing Shira in pain so he had to resort to this, so don't hate me or him for that please. And if you do have negative things to say to me about it, I don't really mind. I want to learn to deal with criticism and that's one why to start!

Diego: Thank you! At least someone understands!

Me: Well I am the author of this whole rumble so of course I do. Plus it's an exaggeration on me when I was a kid and I didn't want to take medicine I hated.

Diego: Wow you were bratty too?

Me: (laughs mockingly) Ha ha ha ha no. I was a little angel. 0:) but it's similar to how I acted about it.

Diego: I see. But everyone will understand.

Me:Yeah. And I'm sure all of your fans will too. Especially your fan girls.

Diego: Sorry ladies, I'm taken.

Me: Anyways, back to the story!

Shira's POV

Ugh. Stupid plant. My cramps may be gone but I'm still never going to let Diego hear the end of this. Nagging me to eat it is one thing but pinning me down and having a sloth with hygiene issues force-feed it to me is just beyond ridiculous! I should have made him eat that plant so he'll understand why I don't want to eat it!

I quickly ran to the stream. I just HAD to get that horrible taste out of my mouth so I bent down and drank the water as fast as I can until my mouth was vile-free.

_The nerve of Diego. _I grumble to myself. _Nagging me about the stupid plant. Holding me down and getting his smelly friend to stuff it in my mouth. I'm going to fatally wound Sid. I'm making my mouth off limits to anyone. I'm going to sneak up on Diego in his sleep and -_

I suddenly felt a tiny thump in my stomach. I stopped to see what it was. I felt another one. And another. And another. And another. What was wrong with me? Was I getting cramps again. No because it would have been painful again and the last thing I wanted to do was eat that gross excuse of medicine again. I can't figure out what's wrong with me. It's not cramps or anything I ate. This never happened before I was pregnant. Wait a minute. Small thumping in my stomach? No pain from it? Oh my god how can I be so clueless to that? The cubs are starting to kick! Diego's bad idea to provoke me doesn't matter anymore, this is actually the positive stuff on pregnancy that we should focus on: seeing our kids progress. I sprinted off to tell Diego the good news.

Normal POV

Diego still couldn't help but feel guilty about what he did to Shira this morning. He was debating with himself whether he went to far with trying to keep Shira healthy or not.

_You idiot. _He told himself. _Your mate was coming down with cramps and you pin her down and have Sid force the plant into her mouth._

_Then again, she was asking for it after she attacked you._

_Poor Shira. She really hates that thing and you make her take it anyway._

_But even if she doesn't like it, she should just suck it up and swallow it no matter how bad it is. If she wants to get through pregnancy without pain then she shouldn't act so childish about it!_

_But you were really rough with her. You promised yourself that you would never fight girls and this is considered fighting._

_Too bad. If you want to keep Shira happy and healthy, you just got to pay the price._

"Diego! Diego! Diego!" Shira cried happily running to her mate and pinning him down.

"Shira." said Diego as he was pinned by her. He started babbling "I'm really sorry about today. I just didn't want to hear you in pain so I pinned you down so you would take the medicine and I'm really, really sorry I was rough on you and I acted like an idiot and-"

"Oh who cares about that?" asked Shira happily. "I'm the idiot for being so immature about it, but that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Then what did you want to talk about?"

Shira patted her stomach motioning Diego to put his paw on the same spot which he did. At first he looked at Shira in confusion. Diego then got what Shira was trying to tell him when he felt it.

"Wow already?" asked Diego in disbelief. "They're really making progress!"

"I know right?" Shira replied. They happily nuzzled and licked each other and Diego again apologized to her for the roughhousing.

"It's fine." replied Shira. "I was asking for it. I'm sorry for being such a spoiled brat about it. You just did it because you care and love had no limits.

They snuggled up closer to each other and kept feeling for more kicks.

"Something tells me that we're going to make great parents." Diego whispered into Shira's ear.

**Aaaaaannnnndddd DONE! If you disapproved about the whole thing with Diego wrestling Shira read what I wrote after Diego's POV. And if you have criticism about it, it's fine. Everyone has their opinions and like I said I'm learning to deal with criticism anyways. So I hope you all enjoyed it!**

**And an update on my last author's note. Sandy's already in the east coast. I heard that it's starting to weaken a bit, but I'm still a little worried, mainly about floods and power outages, but I'll get through it! The only good thing that came out of it is that I have no school Monday and Tuesday so if the power does stay with us then I will have time to write about two chapters max and post one, so keep a lookout!**

**3 laughs4life**


	6. When They Kick, They Hear

**I'm back. Sandy's over thank God. My neighborhood wasn't badly damaged considering that the hurricane got downgraded to a tropical storm when it reached us and the worse thing some other people experienced were power outages. Sadly, Sandy affected some other places pretty badly like floods. I feel so bad for those people and I really wish there was a way I can help them somehow. Some other towns (I live in a small town that I cannot give out the name obviously) have power lines down and flooded streets, and my school also lost electricity so it's closed again tomorrow (I actually want to go back! Other then my fan fics, playing with my sister and just browsing the web since we didn't loose power, there's really nothing to do at my house). I'm just praying that everything will be back to normal soon. Halloween even got postponed!**

**So here we go, chapter 6. Like I said before, this chapter is going to show the progress the unborn cubs are making and the progress Diego and Shira are making for parenthood preparation.**

"Is everything okay you two?" Ellie asked worryingly as she and Manny ran up to Diego and Shira. "We heard really loud fighting noises. Both Diego's attempt to get Shira to take her medicine and the happy announcement were loud enough to be heard by everyone on the island.

"Yeah everything's fine Ellie." Shira replied. "Just cramps again.".

"Right." said Manny. "Anyway, baby's first kicks. Congratulations."

"Wait, how did you know?" Diego asked.

"Ellie did say loud." Manny replied.

"Oh my gosh we over heard you, are the cubs really starting to kick already?" Peaches asked excitedly as she ran up to her parents, aunt, and uncle with Louis on her head.

"Yes they did." Shira replied warmly.

"Was it really that loud?" Diego whispered to Manny.

Manny nodded.

"But that's great news!" Ellie added in happily. "It's a sign."

"What kind of sign?" asked Diego.

"That you two will have some healthy cubs in no time." Manny filled in for Ellie with a grin on his face.

"What nubs are kissing?" the six of them turned to see Sid and Granny walking next to each other.

"No Granny, they said "the cubs are kicking", not "nubs are kissing". Sid corrected for Granny.

"Our shrubs are missing?" Granny asked still not hearing so well. "Then hunt the thief down Sidney!Make yourself useful for once!"

"GRANNY, DIEGO AND SHIRA SAID THE CUBS ARE KICKING!" Sid yelled loud and clear for Granny to hear.

"Don't get all snappy with me on such an amazing moment Sidney, respect your elders! Now let me feel those babies in action." Granny bonked Sid on the head before walking up to Diego and Shira. She placed the tip of her cane on Shira's stomach and felt the kicks happening.

"Ooh! I never felt such strong kicks in my entire life!" said Granny in awe. "That's a sign of healthy cubs!"

Manny playfully gave Diego a look that said "told you".

"Diego, Shira, is it true that the cubs are starting to kick already?" Eddie squealed with excitement.

"I never thought anyone can be excited about a baby's first kicks just as much as parents do." chuckled Shira.

Ellie remembered something else that happened at the same time Peaches started kicking. "You know," she recalled. "When a baby, or babies start to kick it also means that they can start to hear."

"Really?" asked Shira. "You mean we can talk to them and they'll hear us?"

"That's right." nodded Ellie. "Now we'll leave you two alone so you could talk to your kids." she and Manny ushered everybody out of the cave leaving only Diego and Shira the parents-to-be.

Diego was nervous. He didn't know what to say. Other then Peaches he's never had any experience with talking to kids.

"What can we say to them?" he asked Shira.

"Well you can start by saying who their daddy is." suggested Shira. "Then we can tell them about the rest of the herd."

Diego leaned his head a few inches forward to Shira's stomach and started talking to his unborn kids.

"Uh, hi there." he started off. "It's your mommy and daddy here and we can't wait to see you soon." Diego realized he was enjoying this. "That's right we can't wait to see your pretty, wittle faces." he started to baby up his tone a little. "You're all gonna look so adorable, yes you are, yes you are!"

Shira tried holding back a laugh. She already knew that Diego was soft but she never thought that she would ever hear him use baby talk.

Snickers came out from the entrance of the cave. Both sabers looked up to see Crash and Eddie laughing for an obvious reason.

"We can't wait to see your pretty, wittle faces!" Crash mocked.

"You're all gonna look so adorable." added in Eddie. "Yes you are, yes you are!"

Both the possums fell down rolling on the floor laughing until Ellie walked up to them with an displeased look on her face.

"What part of 'let's give them some privacy' don't you two understand?" she asked her brothers. She then took them by their tails.

"Carry on you two." Ellie told the couple. She then walked away. Diego sighed in relief. He owed Ellie one.

Shira looked at Diego who was blushing red hot with embarrassment.

"Well that was embarrassing." he said.

"Don't worry about it softy, we all do it." grinned Shira. "Daddy's a silly pussy cat isn't he?" she said to her kids looking up at Diego with a playful gleam in her eyes.

"Very funny." replied Diego in the same playful tone Shira used on him. "Mommy sure is a funny kitty. Yes she is." he got his revenge in a way where everybody can laugh.

After their little joke fest Diego and Shira told their unborn children about the rest of their herd. Diego did most of it since he knew everyone longer and better than Shira. He started with their kids' uncle Manny who at first came off as a sour puss after Diego and Sid met him, but in general still cares for his family. Then came the sweet, loving aunt Ellie. Diego told the cubs the funny story of how when they first met her she thought that she was a possum and how Manny tried so hard to convince her otherwise after finding out that his species was on the brink of extinction and he tried to repopulate. But during their adventure during the meltdown, Ellie had finally realized her true origins. After this, both Manny and Ellie discovered that they are not the last mammoths left after seeing a herd of mammoths traveling. Right when Ellie was about to go with them, Manny confessed his feelings to Ellie and she joined the herd, thus making Manny and Ellie a couple. The soon-to-be father told his unborn cubs about Crash and Eddie, Ellie's adopted possum brothers who made jokes at everything and never back down from anything that's daring or will seem to make history. The cubs' cousin Peaches and her friend Louis came next. Diego told them that he has a feeling that they will have a strong bond. And of course they could never forget about Sid the "unique" member of the herd who can be a nuisance sometimes but is really the person who keeps the herd together. Not to mention Sid's Granny who was sometimes even more annoying then Sid but underneath that sour, cranky exterior is a sweet old lady who would come out of there once in a while.

When Diego finished his story Shira was about to tell about her life as a pirate but decided not to scare the kids about it, even if they are unborn. Except for maybe the adorable bunny in the crew named Squint and his cute twitching nose and he hated when people called him. That seemed like the least inappropriate story to tell the kids.

After more conversations with the unborn cubs, Diego and Shira drifted off to a peaceful sleep. They've got parenthood in the bag.

**So what do think of Diego and Shira talking to their unborn kids? Please review! There will be some action soon enough! **


	7. Misinterpretation

**Chapter 7. Enjoy!**

"How long has it been?" asked Raz.

"In a week it should be about 3 and a half months." Silas told the kangaroo.

"Three and a half months?!" exclaimed Raz. "Then we should already have us some new fur coats, not be raiding other villages!"

"Patience Raz." Squint said to her. "You know that Gutt is still scarred and he's got some warming up to do before actually facing the traitor. Plus who can resist getting new tressure and watching the suffering of others in pain!"

"Right." Raz rolled her eyes in sarcasm.

Gutt walked out of his quarters and got up on the tree of their ship to make his announcment. His peg leg made it even harder for him to do so.

.

"I know that it has been a while since I made my new plans," he started, "But now that I'm ready to take on Shira, they will now commence."

The crew cheered in excitement once hearing their Captain's announcements.

"As you can see, we are halfway to Switchback Cove." Gutt pointed with his hand to the land on the horizon. "Now we start the fun. Silas! Fly over to the island and scope out the area."

"Aye, aye captain!" Silas then took off.

"Raz, Squint, when Silas comes back and we land you two will go to where exactly he told you to go. Be very sneaky. Make sure you bring some vines and those snow balls that knock you unconcious."

"Yes sir!" responded Squint.

"Got it!" answered back Raz.

"And don't come back until you've got HER with you!" Gutt commanded to the duo.

"Shall I fly the colors Captain?" Gupta asked enthusiastically.

"No." Gutt firmly told the badger with an evil grin. "At least not now."

For nearly three and a half months and a half months Gutt has been waiting for this. He would have done it sooner but at the insistence of Squint his first mate, he and the other pirates have been going to other villages raiding them as "warm up". And now he finally got his chance and he's reaching for it.

...

"Remember to breath." Ellie told Shira. "The important part is breathing. Also have some water around with you. All that labor will make you thirsty and make you want to drink a lot."

"I'll remember that." replied Shira.

It has been three and a half months(as stated before) since Diego and Shira made their discovery. Shira carried the signs that proved her pregnancy but by now it was very obvious. Her stomach had a big bulge, her legs would wobble when she walked and sometimes she would break out sweating. Since the babies will be coming soon around this time Ellie was telling Shira about going into labor and what to do.

"How long will that all take?" asked Shira.

Ellie at first hesitated to tell her that. Shira wanted the honest answers but Ellie didn't want to scare her friend with it. Especially when this was her first time. "It depends. Sometimes it could take a female one whole day." Ellie answered honestly.

"Oh." Shira responded a little nervous.

"Don't worry. No matter how long it takes, it will all be worth it." Ellie reassured Shira.

"Yeah, I'm sure it would." said Shira a little more relaxed. "One more question."

"Ask away."

"Should you lay down or stand when the babies start coming?"

"Whatever makes you feel comfortable. Though you're not really going to think about it. When you start to get contractions all you're going to care about it getting it all over with."

"Thanks for explaining everything Ellie." said Shira with gratitude. "I feel so prepared now."

"Don't mention it Shira." replied Ellie. "If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask."

Shira smiled an appreciatting smile at her mammoth friend. She noticed Diego walking up to the two females.

"You two having girl talk?" Diego asked the two females.

"We just finished." said Shira. "Ellie was just telling me about going into labor and what to do."

"I see." said Diego.

"You know Shira, Diego understands what you'll be going through." said Ellie remembering going into labor with Peaches while Diego acted as a midwife to her. "He went through the same thing." Diego's face was briefly frozen with embarassnment when he heard Elie's joke.

Shira shot Diego a questioning look about what Ellie just said.

"Sort of." Diego replied quickly. Then he told her about how he was coaching Ellie when she went in labor.

_(Flashback from Ice Age 3 at the Plates of Woe when Ellie was giving birth and Diego was helping her when those small but scary dinos attack. This was one of my favorite parts in the movie so I just couldn't resist adding that in.)_

_Diego was laying down on his back holding Ellie's trunk. He was struggling with something that seemed like giving birth to a child._

"_You can do it!" Ellie encouraged Diego. "Push! Push!"_

"_I can't do it!" cried Diego with a strain in his voice._

"_Just one more big push!" _

"_You have no idea what I'm going through!" the laborious mammoth shot the saber an annoyed glance that told him otherwise. "How dare he say that?" she thought to herself._

_It turned out that Diego was in fact pushing back a log of the hissing Guanlogs that were intending to kill and eat the mammoth._

"_Okay, forget I said that!" Diego told Ellie as soon as he realised his mistake. "Let's do this together. Ready?"_

_The duo then pushed back the Guanlogs off of the cliff._

_(end flashback)_

"Wow Diego, it sounds like this was one of the painful expierences in your life." chuckled Shira.

"Yeah." Diego responded with a weak laugh. "I didn't like the way you worded that." he whispered to Ellie. 

"I just thought she might needed a laugh." Ellie said innocently. "Anyways, I'll leave you two alone." she walked off.

"So these little rascals will be coming soon huh?" asked Diego.

"Yeah." sighed Shira. "I just hope it will be soon enough. I'm excited about being a mother, but I can't stand being in this condition. It's cramps and wobbling and even sweating sometimes"

Diego felt sorry for Shira. He hated seeing her in pain. "Yeah. I can't stand to see you like that."

Shira's head immediately shot up. She misunderstood what Diego was trying to tell her and mistook it for an insult. "Oh really?" she asked in a dangerous growl. Her moodswings started firing up. "So you just like me for my looks? Now that I'm pregnant I don't look good enough for you? Well then don't look if you can't stand to see me!"

"What?" Diego asked in shock. He then saw where he went wrong with his last statement. "No, no, no! I didn't mean it _that_ way. I meant it as in I can't stand to see you in pain. It breaks my heart."

"I'm sorry Diego!" apologized Shira. "It's the hormones, they're really starting to get to me! I'm so, so sorry!"

"It's fine don't worry!" Diego reassured her. "I know that this is hard for you but don't worry, this will all be quick and easy!"

Shira was offended again. "Oh you think so?" she hotly questioned her mate. "You think this is going to be so easy?! That's because you don't have to go through the worst! It's the females that work their butts off to bring some beautiful things into the world and all that men ever do is watch, thinking that they're helping! I'd like to see you carry the babies around!"

"What?" asked Diego looking shocked now. "You're crazy, I know the pain you're going through."

"Yeah right!" Shira spat back. "That's what you males all say. You think you understand all the pain and suffering that females go through when really you haven't the foggiest idea about it!"

Diego promised himself that he would never yell at Shira whenever she had the mood swings, but when he was being insulted he just couldn't take it."

"You know what YOU don't have the foggiest idea of?" he asked venomously. "You have no idea how I'm at the brink of breaking point because you have been driving me insane with your mood swings! All I'm trying to do is help you and this is how you repay me?!You are the most ungrateful person I have ever met in my entire life!"

Shira gasped. She never thought that Diego would say something so mean to her. She was going to apologize for insulting him, but she had second thoughts. If she apologized then she would be letting Diego control her and she was not going to let that happen! Instead she spat to him, "Well if you hate me so much then maybe I should just leave!"

Diego felt guilty. Beneath Shira's anger he saw her guilt and apologetic face. Her eyes started watering up as she walked away.

"Shira..." Diego tried to apolgize.

"Leave me alone!" she spat back picking her pace up. It was hard to run with her big stomach but she went as fast as she can. When she saw Diego following her she started walking away from him more.

"Shira please," Diego tried to explain to his mate.

"Stop following me!" Shira screamed back starting to run fast enough to loose Diego.

Finally when he was out of her sight, Shira went to the hallow tree where she was imprisoned in and lay on her stomach and started to quietly sob. She regretted what she said to Diego and wanted to apologize to him but she couldn't over two reasons. One, Diego would probably never forgive her after the way she talked to him, and 2, she wanted a moment alone to think things through to herself. She glance down at her stomach and patted it with her paw.

"Sorry you had to hear that kids." she whispered to her unborn cubs.

As Shira was laying down, she saw the glowing moonlight revealing a shadow. Was it Diego? She hoped it wasn't. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

"Go away Diego!" she spat still angry at him. She saw the shadow come closer to her.

"I said GO AWAY!" Shira hissed. Then she noticed something. That wasn't Diego coming to her. The shadow split into two as they started coming closer and closer. Then they started snickering and shushing each other. Shira came to the conclusion that it was not her mate coming to her, but rather two people who she knew and didn't want to remember.

"What are you..." BAM! Before Shira could finish her sentence, a chunk of ice hit her in the forehead. She tumbled around feeling very dizzy and then everything went black.

"Ha ha! I can't believe it!" Squint laughed in pride. "We caught her! We actually caught her!"

"She was an easy catch wasn't she?" asked Raz mocking the unconscious saber. "Looks like that male saber made her soft too."

"Come on! Let's get back to Gutt!" Squint led the way. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees that we have Shira!"

Unfortunately for the ragged duo, a certain someone caught them on the act. A certain someone who was particularly furious.

As Squint and Raz starting tying the unresponsive Shira with vines, Diego jumped out of the bushes and landed in front of them blocking their way.

"If you two are going to take Shira you'll have to go through me first!" the saber snarled the the bunny and kangaroo.

Squint and Raz laughed in amusement at Diego's act of bravery.

"Well would you look at that Raz?" Squint said to his partner. "The tiger won't give up his kitty without a fight."

"Challenge accepted." growled Raz as she cracked her knuckles and lunged at the saber. Diego ducked out of Raz's way resulting her in falling face first into the ground. Raz got up growling. She hopped back on to her feet, charged at the Diego and pinned him down. While Diego was struggling to push her off she raised her fist and punched Diego's right eye.

Diego was furious. Normally he would never fight girls but for Shira's sake, he was willing to make an exception. He swiped at Raz with his paw only for her to duck and laugh mockingly at him.

"You're just going to weaken the other saber's fighting abilities aren't you?" Raz mockingly asked Diego. What she didn't know was that the paw was merely a distraction for Diego to use his real attack. He roughly kicked Raz off of him causing her to hit her head against a tree.

"Ow!" the kangaroo groaned rubbing her head in pain. "This is gonna leave a bump!"

Squint tiring of Raz's failed attempts to try and attack Diego made his attempt. He picked up the snowball, aimed carefully and threw it at Diego's temple. Like Shira he wobbled and tumbled over with pitch black stealing his vision.

**Oh no, the pirates got Shira! Will the herd be able to rescue her! Find out soon! Please review!**


	8. Revenge and Rescue Begins

**Enjoy chapter 8!**

Diego's POV

What happened last night? I wake up at the crack of dawn with my head aching all over. I close my eyes and try to recall what happened. Last thing I remember was Shira and I getting into a very heated argument. When I insulted her she yelled at me and stormed off. I tried apologizing to her but she didn't want to talk to me. Right when I finally caught up to Shira, she was unconscious and being tied by some crazy bunny and kangaroo. Then I felt a sharp blow to my head and everything went black. Whoever those physcos are I am going to hunt them down and do unspeakable things to them. No one kidnaps my mate and unborn kids. If they lay so much as one finger on her they will never see the light of day again.

Wait a second. That bunny and kangaroo looked and sounded familiar. As if I heard them back months ago. I think and recall what happened...

_(flashback)_

"_Come on, let's get back to Gutt! I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees that we have Shira!" _

_(end flashback)_

Gutt? Have Shira? Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, NO! Those two crazy animals that captured Shira are part of Gutt's crew. And how could they be talking about Gutt in present tense? He's supposed to be dead! Then again he's too tough to be killed by anything sadly. :( Shira! It's all my fault that she got captured! I've got to save her! But I can't do it alone! I got to let the rest of the herd know!

I ran off to tell them.

Shira's POV

Ow, my head. It's really hurting me. I have no idea what happened last night. All I remember is getting in a fight with Diego and walking away from him trying to ignore him. Then I saw two shadows that seemed familiar. Right when I recognized them and was about to question them I got hit in the head with what I believed was ice, and that's about it.

Something started feeling suspicious as I started to slowly wake up. I was laying down on felt felt like hard ice, my paws were tied together and I heard various laughter.

_You don't think... _I think to myself. _No that's impossible. _Sadly, my eyes said otherwise when I opened them. And who do I see? The one person who I kept trying to forget ever since my arrival with Diego and the rest of the herd. The one person who I found out does not care about me or anyone the hard way. The one person who was supposed to be dead.

"Welcome back... mate." Gutt sneered at me half spitefully and half mockingly.

"Gutt." I gasp.

"Miss me Shira?" my ex-captain asked me through a snarl.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"On the contrary my dear. I'm indestructible as I just recently found out. The rest of the crew was kind enough to help their Captain out when they found him adrift."

"Yay, Shira's back!" Flynn jumped up and down with excitement.

"No you fool!" Gupta snapped at him impatiently. "She's our prisoner, meaning she will not be coming back to the crew any time soon, just stay there tied up while we shun her."

I take a better look at Gutt. Bald spots were all over his body, his left leg was gone with a peg leg in it's place and his eye seemed to be seriously scarred.

"I know, I know I look different." Gutt said to me as if reading my mind. "Well I have you and your mutiny to thank for my new look! I was in mental trauma for weeks. WEEKS all because of you turning on me. The monkey who cared enough to take you in after you left your pack. The monkey who gave you a home, food and a new life and you thank me by betraying your family and joining that saber."

"You never cared about me or anybody!" I snap at Gutt. "The crew was never a home or a family, it was a prison and all you ever saw me as was your slave! After what you did, you deserved to be traumatized!"

"Watch it Missy!" Squint snaps at me holding the point of his sword near me. "You better speak with a respectful tone to the captain, or else."

I roll my eyes. Squint is still Gutt's first mate. Wow, that's pathetic.

"Or else what Squint?" I ask him tauntingly. "You're gonna tickle me to death with your cute little nose?"

As usual, Squint's ears shot up, his his turned wide and his nose started twitching angrily. He still hates being called cute. He still has his touch.

"I also noticed something different with you Shira." Gutt said to me ignoring that I just made fun of his first mate. "I couldn't exactly put my finger on it but then I saw the bulge and that's when it hit me."

"Shira ate too much!" Flynn blurted out as if he said the correct answer. Wow, he's as ignorant as ever.

"No!" Gutt snapped at the seal losing his patience. He then continued with his usual cruel speech. "I also felt some kicks. Let me be the first from the crew to congratulate you mommy."

Aw crud. I was so worried about Gutt and the others hurting me that I forgot I was pregnant. I'm so stupid! Another scary thought came to me. What if the cubs are born on the ship? Saber cubs don't open their eyes or start to walk for another few days and Gutt would never back down at a chance to hurt them!

"Listen Gutt," I try to negotiate with him. "Do what you want with me but don't hurt my family."

"And why would I take an offer from a traitor?" Gutt asked me. I flinch once he begins tracing his claw on my stomach lightly. Thankfully, he stops after a few seconds. "Capturing you was just the beginning of my plot. I know that the pathetic excuse of a 'herd' will care enough to come back for you. And once they do, they will all be nothing but history once I draw my claws at them. Guess who will be the first on to go in front of you."

"You wouldn't!" I gasp knowing that he means Diego. Oh no, Diego! He must be really furious at me for yelling at him like that! What if he's mad enough not to save me? _Calm down Shira. _I tell myself. _Diego's not like that. He cares for me and loves me no matter what I did to annoy him. _

"Shira, Shira, Shira." Gutt shakes his head at me. "I think you know me well enough that I would never miss my chance for revenge. You're lucky that I'm keeping you alive. There is something good to being bait." He turns to Raz.

"Raz, you know what to do." Raz smirks evilly at Gutt's command.

"Aye, aye." she returned the smirk.

Within a few seconds I was tied to the mast. The vines gripped at me so tightly that I couldn't even move.

What's going to happen? I ask myself. Will Diego, Manny and Sid come to save me? Will they be able to beat the pirates again? All I could do now was just sit there and wait.

I felt a kick to my stomach. Even when I was tied I can still feel the cubs kicking.

"Don't worry kids." I whisper to them. "Mommy' going to try to find a way out, I promise." And it's true. I'll try to escape and reach home.

Normal POV

Diego sprinted back to the rest of the herd as fast as he can. Unfortunately for Diego, he ran so hard that he hit his face on Manny's leg.

"Hey watch-" Manny stopped when he saw Diego behind him.

"Diego, what's wrong?" asked Ellie worriedly when she saw the panicked look on Diego's face.

"It's Shira!" Diego cried.

"Shira? Are the cubs coming?" Manny asked with some panic in his voice.

"No." Diego shook his head. "Shira and I were talking last night and I said something to upset her so she ran off and-"

"You're getting all panicky because Shira ditched you?" asked Crash.

"Dude you gotta remember this," Eddie walked up to the saber. "Every little thing can upset a lady. If you can't say anything not to offend Shira don't say anything at all."

"Crash, Eddie, let Diego finish!" Ellie scolded her brothers. "Continue Diego."

"Okay so Shira and I were talking about when the babies would be coming I told her that it should be quick and easy but she got mad and yelled at me for saying that and I yelled at her because I was so annoyed with the hormones but now I feel so stupid and guilty about it so Shira walked off like I said before and right when I caught up to her I saw her passed out on the ground being tied by some crazy animals who I suddenly recognized and I tried to fight them but they knocked me out and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Diego." Manny cut off his friend as he babbled everything that happened. "Give us the slow and short version. You look like you're about to have a heart attack!"

"The crew took Shira!" Diego blurted out.

"The crew?" Manny asked. "As in Captain Crazy?"

Diego nodded understanding that Manny was referring to Gutt.

"I thought he was dead?" Ellie pointed out.

"Well he mysteriously survived somehow." said Diego.

"Hold on." said Sid. "Two questions. One, are you sure that it was the crew, and two, are you positive that they were kidnapping Shira?"

"Yes that was the crew, I could never forget them as much as I wish I could." Diego answered the first one casually. "And do you really think I can't tell when someone's kidnapping my mate?!" the tiger answered the second question with a fiery temper. "I said they were tying her up, what do you think it means?!"

Peaches ran up to her family with Louis. "Mom, Dad I heard some yelling and panic, Is everything okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Shira got taken by the crew." Manny replied sadly to his daughter.

"What?! No!" Peaches cried.

"You mean that crazy, hairy captain that I took on when Peaches and Ellie got attacked?" Louis asked nervously.

"Yes." Ellie said in a grave voice.

"Oh my." Louis swayed back and fourth a few times before fainting. Peaches picked her friend up and ran up near her tree to revive him.

"What are we going to do?" Crash asked.

Manny started thinking then it came to him. "The ship!" he recalled. "We can use that ship that we stole from the pirates!"

Miraculously that big chunk of ice still hasn't melted yet. Thankfully for the rest of the herd, it still seemed as if it was untouched and still in good condition.

"Okay that's a start." replied Diego. "But we're going to need some help. We can't fight the pirates on our own."

When Manny, Sid and Diego were talking about it, a small, adorable furry rodent scattered up and bumped into Sid's leg. Sid looked down to see it was a hyrax, the animals that helped them escape the wrath of Gutt.

"Hey little fella," Sid greeted one of his allies. "Are you lost?"

The hyrax chattered and squeaked.

"He knows what happened." Sid translated for the herd.

"Great!" replied Diego. "Ask him if he and his friends could help us again."

Sid did his usual translating for the hyrax. He started off by babbling random phrases, dancing and blowing raspberries. He did an unusual impression of Shira by sticking sticks in his mouth, battering his eyelashes and planting a blow kiss on Diego. Then came Raz and Squint for which Sid either hoped around for or held two long pieces of tall grass above his head. And of course came Gutt with the leaves as his hat and beard. Then came more dancing and raspberries until the hyrax nodded his head in agreement.

"Uh, how did they-" asked Ellie.

"Don't ask because we don't even know." Diego answered honestly to his niece.

The hyrax then whistled and many armies of other hyraxes came out of the bushes. The hyrax leader who knew that the herd hated Gutt as much as he did jumped out, growled in his deep tone and let out a battle cry which all the other hyraxes did the same thing. With the herd helping them escape the clutches of Gutt, the least they could do was help them back. Especially Diego after he freed their captive friends.

"Once again," Sid interpreted for the rest of the herd, "They're in."

"Great!" replied Diego with happiness and relief. "We can't tell you how much we really appreciate you guys doing this for us again!"

The hyraxes gave Diego "it's nothing" nods and got to work.

Everything was settled. The ship, the supplies and who was going and who was staying.

Fearing for their safety, Manny told Ellie, Peaches, Crash and Eddie to stay behind. Although Ellie was protesting with it at first, she reluctantly agreed. Crash and Eddie were actually willing to stay behind much to Manny and Ellie's surprise. After saying so, they ran off to supposedly pull pranks on other animals. Sid had a hard time convincing Granny to stay with Ellie and the others.

"Sidney, how old do you think I am?!" Granny complained to Sid.

"Granny, it's too dangerous for a woman you condition." Sid tried to reason with his grandmother only to have her get angry with him.

"Are you calling me old?!" she snapped at her grandson. "Don't you get fresh with me young man! What's a lady gotta do to see her pet these days?!" she again hit Sid on the head and they debated over whether Granny should stay or go. Sid won the argument and Granny stayed behind much to her annoyance.

"Fine!" snapped Granny. I'm gonna go to over to my tree and mumbled angrily to myself!"

Manny, Sid, Diego and the hyraxes took off on the ship.

"Enough dilly-dallying, let's go!" Diego rushed the rest of the herd to the ship.

"We'll be back as soon as we find Shira!" Manny called out to Ellie.

"Good luck!" shouted out Ellie to Manny.

They then set off to rescue their friend. This was going to be the start of another unforgettable journey.

**So what did you think? And be honest! Do you really think that Granny, Crash and Eddie are going to stay behind? Please review!**


	9. Regret

**Chapter 9! And before you start reading let me clear a few things up. First of all, our power randomly went out on Saturday(the Saturday AFTER the hurricane as shocking as it might sound to some people because during Sandy we had power) but it turns out that something in my neighborhood is getting fixed and I didn't work on chapter 9 ever since and the only reason I finished it and posted it now is because I am currently at a friend's house where they don't have power but they have a generator and they were kind enough to give me access to their WiFi. Second, I am back at school now(which has delayed openings for the rest of the week) so I may be offline again because of homework and I still have a French project to finish so don't be surprised that there isn't a new chapter posted everyday plus I have various other clubs that I will get back to once everything in my school is back to normal so I will post whatever I can. Anyways, enjoy chapter 9! What will be in store now? Well we'll never know until we read! Enjoy!**

"I'm so exhausted!" whined Sid. "I can't take it anymore, I feel like we've been sailing on the waters forever! How long have we been on this boat?"

"Thirty minutes." Manny kept track of the time.

"Thirty minutes?! Ugh, that's just enough to make me want to-" Sid puffed up his mouth. :P.

"No, no, no Sid!" Manny tried to stop his friend from hurling. "Not on the-"

It was too late. In just a few seconds there was a gross puddle of you-know-what. :P

"Sid, you're disgusting." Manny cringed his face.

Sid wiped the mess of his mouth. "Sorry." he apologized. "I just can't control what comes out of my body."

"Good point." admitted Manny. "But you _can _control how many of those berries you eat before you go out on the waters. I kept warning you that they're going to make you sea sick."

"Manny," chuckled Sid. "You should know that I never listen to people when I'm hungry. Especially you."

The mammoth and the sloth were bickering and bickering with each other until they noticed Diego laying in place looking depressed. He's been unresponsive ever since they got on the ship. Some of the hyraxes were standing next to the saber trying to cheer him.

"What up with Mr. Down in the Dumps?" an elderly voice asked from a hole in one of the trees.

"I don't know." Sid replied. "He's been like this since we-" Sid stopped to turn around and see Granny's head sticking out of the tree.

"Granny?!" Sid asked in shock. He specifically told her not to come with them, it was to dangerous for a lady her age! "I told you to stay with Ellie and the others!"

"Like I was gonna listen to you!" snapped Granny.

"While you two settle things, I'm going to talk with Diego." Manny left the two sloths while he went to vucheer up his friend.

"Hey tiger." Manny said to his friend. "You haven't said a word since we left. What's wrong?"

Diego just sat there. Manny tried to think of a way to snap him out of his unresponsive stage. He thought of the perfect way.

"Ow!" snapped Diego as Manny punched him in the shoulder. "What was that for?"

"I had to use something to get you talking. You're just sitting there with a blank expression. What's wrong?"

"It's all my fault." Diego lowered his head.

"What is?" asked Manny.

"Shira getting captured by the pirates."

"How so?"

"If I would have just kept my mouth shut then she wouldn't have run off and she wouldn't have gotten captured. I just had to yell at her. Shira's probably getting tortured mercilessly by Gutt and his deranged posse. If she and the babies get hurt I will never forgive myself. Some mate and father am I."

"What are you talking about? You're risking the rest of the herd's life and your own to face our old enemies and to save her and the babies, so don't you dare call yourself a bad mate and dad because we got the proof that proves you wrong."

"Really?"

"Really. You confronted Shira's kidnappers and fought them. Even though you didn't win you did the best you could and told us about what happened and here you are sailing in the middle of the seas trying to find her because you care."

Diego smiled. "Thanks Manny. It's just that before I joined the herd, I never thought about getting a girl and having kids. Not because I didn't care about it but it's because I thought that somehow I would end up hurting them and I thought that it will happen since Gutt has Shira."

"Hey we got everything planned out." Manny said. "Gutt will never know what hit him. We'll beat those pirates and we will get Shira back."

"You got that right!" one of the hyraxes shouted out.

"Yeah we'll whop some pirate booty real good!" another one added in as he

"Did that hyrax just... talk?" Diego asked suspiciously.

"Yes, but it's not a hyrax." Manny pointed out. He noticed something different with those two hyraxes. First of all they were way skinny and their fur wasn't so puffy. Secondly they spoke plain English. And the most obvious sign was that they sounded very, VERY familiar.

"Crash, Eddie?" asked Manny. "What are you two doing here?"

"I'll tell you what we're not doing." said Eddie. "We're not sneaking on the ship even though we were supposed to stay behind."

"Or that we said that we're going to pull pranks on strangers so we could paint ourselves orange with orange juice to make us look like hyraxes so we could sneak on board."

"So Granny, Crash and Eddie snuck on board." said Diego. "Any other stowaways we should know about?"

"What were you thinking sneaking on like that?!" Manny nagged the possums. It's dangerous, it's risky and it's not a game! Does Ellie even know you're here?"

Crash hesitated at first but then said, "Yeah, sure."

"The only reason you two are staying here is because we have no choice but to let you." Manny told the possums.

"Precious!" Granny called out to her whale. "Come on out baby, momma's here!"

"The same goes with Granny." said Manny.

**Done! I really enjoyed writing the Manny and Diego moment. Sorry it was short but I promise you there will be action coming up in the next chapter which I will work on as soon as we get our power back (which according to my mom who called the electric company should be by Friday) Please review!**


	10. Cruel Mockery

**Chapter 10! I finally posted it because we got our SWEET POWER back today! :D Sorry, I'm just so excited. Before I say enjoy, I want to thank MBSAVfan1 and KaylaDestroyer (there's a surprise for you in there!) for giving me some good ideas for the story. Anyways, ENJOY! **

**And I just realized that tomorrow will be one year since I joined FanFiction! I'm still trying to think of a way to celebrate it through my writing.**

**And I decided that I will start taking requests so if you guys want me to write something, don't hesitate to ask!**

Shira's POV

Where has the time gone? How long how I been imprisoned on this ship? I completely lost track of time. All I know is that from the pale pink, blue and orange sky it's nearly dusk and I've been tied to the mast for hours. The vines keeping my paws together are gripping tight as snakes and my body is starting to go numb.

Since I've been tied, I've been trying to think of ways to escape but I can't come up with anything because of all the new fears I have in my head. From worrying that I'll give birth on the ship to being forced to watch Gutt skin Diego and the others right in front of me, I just don't know how to think straight. I've been trying to cut through the vines but my paws are restrained so well that it makes it impossible.

"Trying to leave so soon?" Gutt taunts me. "But the party should be getting started so just be patient and sit around."

"Leave my family out of this Gutt!" I snap at the shaggy ape. "What did they ever do to you?"

"What did they ever do to me? What did they EVER do to me? Let's see, they destroyed my ship, ruined me, turned my first mate against me, the possibilities are endless."

Oh boy. My hormones are starting to build up, my temper is starting to boil.

"THAT WASN'T THEIR FAULT, IT WAS YOUR OWN STUPID FAULT YOU STINKY FURBALL AND IF YOU HURT THEM IN ANY WAY, YOU WON'T HAVE AN ARM OR LEG LEFT TO STAND ON!"

Usually Gutt would make some angry comeback or threaten somebody with weapons but he just chuckled and said, "Still as feisty as ever, eh Shira? Sadly I can't be scared by a female. Especially a pregnant one." he smirked at me.

"WELL YOU SHOULD BE!" I yell right into his face. "IF YOU THINK THAT FEMALE SABERS ARE VICIOUS NOW, THEY ARE 20 TIMES AS SCARY WHEN THEY'RE EXPECTING!"

Once again, Gutt chuckled and shock his head. An obvious sign that he is just saying all this to mock me, the so-called warrior who turned against him. He disregarded everything I said. Instead, Squint stood up for his master.

"You keep yer mouth shut traitor!" he scowled at me. "Or you'll go before your boyfriend does."

_Right Squint. _I think to myself. Was he seriously trying to threaten me? Out of all the other pirates Gutt could choose as my replacement, why did it have to be Squint?

I was going to taunt Squint and his nose but my mood swings kept me from doing so.

"If you hate me so much Gutt then just finish me!" I sobbed. "Finish me off quickly and get it over with! Anything to keep you from hurting Diego and the others!" I scold myself for breaking out in tears in front of Gutt and Squint. When you are with pirates, especially as a prisoner, the most important thing not to do is cry. If you do, then it shows them that you are weak and vulnerable and they take advantage of that.

I can't see that well now. The tears in my eyes make everything a big blur. I hear a brief silence that tells me that Gutt and Squint feel a little awkward for making me cry like that. Then they burst out laughing cruelly and mockingly.

"Finish me off quickly and get it over with!" mocked Squint doing a very poor impression of me crying. "Anything to keep you from hurting Diego and the others!"

Squint and Gutt continue their laugh fest until somebody stops them. (Surprise for KaylaDestroyer! :)

"Hey lay off her!" Raz snaps at the duo. "It's bad enough that she's been tied up for hours and suffering the pains of pregnancy, she does not need any more torture with you two twits making fun of her!"

"Excuse me ya moody marsupial, but I don't remember you having any control over what we do!" spat Squint at Raz.

The tears start to wash away from my eyes. Now that my vision is cleared, I look up to see Gutt lowering his head near Raz's face.

"Squint's right." he growls in a low and dangerous tone to Raz. "You have no authority over us so don't act like it!"

Raz immediately regretted what she said. "R-r-right. S-s-s-sorry captain." she stuttered nervously.

"The next time you talk back to me or stand up for the prisoner, you're getting keelhauled, got it?!"

"Y-y-yes sir."

"Good." the trio walked away and left me behind. I was surprised at how Raz was acting. She was always so tough and hardcore that I never remember seeing her show any fear, let alone stand up for someone even if she'll get punished somehow. I don't know whether it's some kind of sick trick or if she really means it but either way, I'm not buying it.

Silas flies in, sits on Gutt's shoulder and whispers in his ear.

"Oh really?" Gutt asked sounding interested. I know what Silas told him. They're coming for me. Diego and the rest of the herd. "Get ready boys! We got guests coming." the ape commanded to his crew. "Gupta,_ now _fly the colors."

"Yes captain!" Gupta scurried up on the highest tree to reveal his skull and cross bone pattern.

"Raz, you got the weapons, don't you?" Gutt asked the kangaroo forgetting about what she just did.

"Don't I always?" Raz grinned evilly at Gutt. Yep, she was messing with my mind.

"What about the prisoner captain?" asked Squint.

"Leave her for now." Gutt answered. "We all know who's coming for her."

**End of chapter! So what do you guys think? Please review.**


	11. The Battle Begins

**Chapter 11, you know what to do!**

**(to avoid confusion, this part of the chapter is taking place while Gutt and Squint were making fun of Shira)**

So many hours have passed since the herd left the island. Dawn turned into dusk in the blink of an eye. Everybody was doing their own thing. Granny was calling for Precious. Crash and Eddie were playing pirate and fighting with sticks. Sid once again was desperate for water and tried to drink from the ocean while Manny kept trying to hold him back with his trunk and kept reminding him, "Sid no, it's _salty, _remember?"

"Arg!" Crash growled at Eddie as he poked the stick in his brother's stomach. "Surrender-arg- your-arg- booty-arg- now-arg or-arg face-arg my-arg wrath!"

"Arg! Make-arg-me-arg-ya-arg-fleabag!" Eddie answered back to his brother.

Manny rolled his eyes. "Guys, I don't think pirates say "Arg" after each word. (anyone catch a SpongeBob reference there?)

The possums ignored Manny's comment and continued their game. They kept whacking their sticks together until Crash accidentally hit Eddie in the face.

"Hey dude, you did that on purpose!" Eddie complained to his brother.

"Did not!" Crash responded annoyed.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

The possums kept bickering until a chunk of wood hit each of them on the back of their heads. They turned to see Diego angrily snarling and clawing at a torn piece of bark.

Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at the angry saber tearing at the bark, sending tiny shavings of some leftovers flying in the air.

"Diego, are you okay?" asked Sid.

"I'm going to kill him." muttered Diego.

"What?"

"If Gutt lays so much as one of his filthy claws on Shira I am going to tear him apart and throw his shreds into the ocean! He should know better then to mess with sabers!"

"Calm down tiger. Right now we have to focus on rescuing Shira. We'll deal with Gutt later." Manny assured Diego.

"I know, Manny, I'm sorry." apologized Diego. "I just never thought I would see that walking flea bag again and to make matters worse, he's holding my mate and kids hostage and it's making me REALLY furious."

"That's completely understandable. When you have a mate and are expecting kids then you go in ALL lengths to protect them. I learned from personal experience."

"Hey guys, check this cloud out!" Crash pointed to the sky looking in awe. "It looks like a badger with a skull and crossbones pattern!"

"And the cloud bellow the badger looks like a giant pirate ship!" Eddie added in.

"We've arrived at our destination." Manny announced to the rest of the herd.

...

"Ahoy there mammoth. Long time no see." Gutt greeted the herd. "What a coincidence finding you and your friends here again."

"Cut the act Gutt!" Manny called out to the ape. "You know exactly why we're here!"

"Oh? And what would the reason be?"

"You should know!" Sid shouted out. "But just in case you don't, it involves Diego's girlfriend aka your former first mate aka the saber who turned against you aka..."

"Sid," said Manny annoyed. "He gets it."

"I sure do." Gutt replied with an amused smirk on his face. "If you're playing charades then it's my turn to guess. One word. Shira."

"WHERE IS SHE?!" snarled Diego. "SHIRA AND THE BABIES BETTER BE UNHARMED OR ELSE GUTT!"

"Easy now saber." Gutt said in a mockingly calm tone. "You'll get your lady back without a single hair on her harmed. On one condition.

"Name your price." growled Diego. At this point, he'd do anything to keep his mate and children safe.

"Why don't you all come up on my ship and I'll tell you." Gutt slid a lengthy wooden platform up to the herd's ship for them to walk on.

After their adventure months ago, the herd knew Gutt too well that one, he's always got something up his sleeve and two, he never keeps a promise. Today, the herd has something special planned for them

.

While Gutt was talking with Manny, Sid and Diego, Shira still sat in place. She heard the promise Gutt made and she knew that the first thing he was going to do was gut her family right in front of her. She had to act quick. Despite hours of thinking Shira couldn't think of a well-coordinated escape plan.

"Hey Shira!" Flynn happily bounced up to Shira. "I'm so glad to have to back on our scurvy crew! It's been forever since I last saw you and now you're gonna be a mummy!"

Shira mentally shook her head. Flynn still wasn't getting that she's not rejoining the crew but that she's a prisoner. Then again, he never completely understood things due to his ignorance.

_Wait a minute _Shira had an idea coming on. It may have been last minute and not really well formulated but it was the only one she had.

"Yeah I'm happy too Flynn." smiled Shira playing along. "Can you do me a favor? That rope keeping me in place is really tight on my tummy and it's just uncomfortable for the kids. Could you maybe untie it for me, pretty please?" she added with a fake, innocent twinkle in her eyes.

"Poor things." Flynn replied feeling pity for both the saber and her babies. "Alright, will do!"

"Thank you Flynn, you're a dear." Shira smiled at the seal.

"Actually I'm a seal." Flynn replied not understanding the expression, "But your welcome!"

"Now let's play a game where you pretend that you didn't untie me and you go to Gutt, but don't tell him about it okay?"

"Okay! I like this game!" Flynn bounced back happily completely oblivious to the fact that he just helped Gutt's prisoner escape.

Shira then slowly and quietly stalked away from the mass, trying her best to be undetected and hide somewhere. If there's no bait then the fish won't come. Gutt was intending to kill Diego and the others in front of Shira to make her suffer, but what good is killing someone in an act of revenge without a victim? Gutt's angry questioning on the whereabouts of his prisoner and orders to search for her on the ship will delay the slaughter of her family. Then Shira will jump on Gutt and take on him herself. She maybe bloated from her pregnancy, but she could still pounce.

Shira admitted to herself that it may not have been the best idea, but it was still worth a shot. The female saber found herself a huge pile of dead branches to hide herself in. She dug through the pile and waited.

.

"Now you promise that Shira's 100% unharmed?" Diego questioned Gutt hotly as the herd followed him to Shira's prison knowing that Gutt's promise was a trap.

"I cross my heart and hope to die." pledged Gutt.

Everyone then looked to see Squint and Gupta running up to Gutt looking very nervous.

"C-c-captain." stuttered Gupta in fear. "Y-you're not gonna like this b-b-b-b-b-b-"

"What is it Gupta? Can't you see I'm in the middle of negotiating?" Gutt rolled his eyes.

"Sh-sh-she's gone." Squint stuttered in the same way as Gupta.

"WHAT?!" Gutt yelled furiously.

"Shira. She's-"

"I KNOW YOU MEAN SHIRA!" Gutt snarled loudly and furiously at his first mate. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!"

"We found the mast with no saber tied to it and loose ropes everywhere. She escaped somehow!" Gupta explained.

"WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU IDIOTS, SPLIT UP AND FIND HER!"

"Y-y-yes sir." Squint stuttered.

"But Captain, now that Shira's missing how are you going to get revenge on her by killing the herd in front of her now?" asked Gupta. Gutt face-palmed himself and gave the badger an angry glare.

"Uh-oh." squeaked Gupta realizing that he just spilled the beans.

"We're not surprised Gutt." Manny said to him. "After our little journey all those months ago we all know that you are NOT a man of your word. We know that you're planning something for us so to make it fair, we've got something planned for you."

"What would that be?" Gutt asked suspiciously.

Manny picked up a giant leaf and waved it several times. Before Gutt could blink, many tiny, furry little orange heads popped out of the herd's ship. They were armed and let squeaky battle cries out.

"Gutt, you remember our old friends the hyraxes don't you?" Manny teasingly asked the ape.

The hyrax leader growled at Gutt in his deep tone still not forgetting his hatred for him.

Gutt and the entire crew laughed hysterically at the sight of the hyraxes.

"Still the funny guy eh?" he asked through his laughs. "Did you seriously think that an army of those little fur-balls would scare us?

"If they have extreme hatred for you then yes." Manny replied coolly.

Before anyone knew it, all the hyraxes on the herd's ship ran up on the platform riding each other, letting out battle cries (**like in Ice Age 4**). As soon as they reached the pirate ship they unsheathed their weapons and fought the pirates. Manny for one was actually very impressed. Their swordsmanship really improved.

The hyraxes fought smaller members of the crew such as Squint and Gupta while Manny took on the bigger ones. Granny, Sid, Crash and Eddie helped out with the fighting as well. While Silas was gaining on the possums, they used their climbing and swinging abilities to get away from him. Eventually, the booby fainted from mass confusion. As Raz was about to lung at Granny with her fish bone swords, all the elderly sloth had to is poke the kangaroo in the eye and beat her up a few times with her cane and she successfully won her battle. And Sid well, he fought off the rats on the ship with a stick.

Meanwhile Diego's main priority was to find Shira. He was torn in between doing so and helping his friends fight off the pirates but Manny insisted that he searched for his mate.

"Shira?" Diego called out with his pace quickening. "Shira! Where are you?"

Through the fighting sounds being heard from the shelter, Shira recognized a voice calling for her. It was Diego! Slowly and quietly she crawled out of the branches to reunite with her mate. After seconds of searching, Shira caught site of her beloved.

"Diego!" Shira cried out to him. "Diego, I'm here!" Diego turned around, his eyes catching his wife. He was glad to see that she was all in one piece, untouched and still carrying their babies.

"Shira!" Diego ran up to her in a hurry in order to reunite with her. Just as he was about to reach her,

"Stop right there!" Squint growled acting as a barrier keeping the couple from coming towards each other. He pulled a sword out holding the point near Shira's throat. "Take one more step and you can kiss your girlfriend goodbye!"

_I'm being threatened by prey? _Diego thought to himself. _How pathetic. _He knew how to defeat the rabbit right away.

"Look kids, it's the cute, little bunny that mommy was talking about!" cooed Diego. "Isn't he just adorable?"

As usual, Squint's ears shot up and his nose started twitching. He dropped down on the floor and looked as if he was suffering a major spasm.

Just as Diego was about to nuzzle Shira, Raz jumped right in front of him in the same way as Squint just did. She violently kicked Diego making him slide across the ship away from Shira and hitting his head on the mast. Through his blurry vision, he saw Raz holding the tip of her sword near Shira walking up to her near it. The closer Raz got with the sword, the more Shira was backing up. The anxious female saber kept stumbling back until she noticed that she reached the edge of the ship.

"Be careful, don't fall off." Raz sarcastically warned Shira.

"Raz please, leave me alone." begged Shira. "At least show some sympathy to a pregnant female this one time."

Raz pretended to be deep in thought about what Shira just said. "Yeah, not gonna happen." She then kicked the saber with her legs sliding her off the ship, holding on to the edge with her claws for dear life.

"I never liked cliffhangers," commented Raz, "And I'm not starting now!" she took her sword and pried Shira's claws off with it sending her falling down to her possible doom.

"SHIRA!" cried Diego about to break out in tears. Has he really lost his mate for good this time?

**So what did you guys think? Is Shira really gone? Before you guys kill me because of the end I'd suggest waiting for chapter twelve please. Plus I never wrote a cliffhanger before and I decided that now would be a PERFECT time. And what did you think of Shira tricking Flynn into freeing her? Please review!**


	12. Apologies

**Chapter 12, picked up from the cliff hanger from last chapter! ENJOY!**

**Diego's POV:**

I looked down from the ship at the ocean still unable to believe that Shira fell overboard.

"Shira!" I called out desperately into the waters. "SHIRA!" No answer.

I lost her. I really lost her. It's all my fault. I just had to upset her the other day. I lay down on my stomach, rested my head on my paws and let a tear out of my eye. I was actually crying, and I had reason to. I lost my two most important things and it's all because of me.

"Aw miss your mate, mate?" The crazy kangaroo girl scowled at me. "Then why don't you go join her?"

Just as she was about to launch me overboard with her legs, a strong blast of water shot out of the seas along with a female scream. I squinted and saw something gray and white on top of it. It was Shira! She's alive! But how?

"Great timing Precious!" Granny praised her pet. I already knew that Precious wasn't imaginary, but I never thought that he would be a life saver!

Shira fell back on the ship slid until she bumped into the mast.

"Shira!" I cried out relieved running to her side. "Shira, you okay?"

She painfully groaned and coughed out the salt water. "Diego?" she whispered to me. She starts breaking out in sobs

"Yeah." I replied to her nuzzling her. "It's alright, don't worry, you're safe now."

A loud thump made the boat shake hard.

"Come on you two!" Manny called out to us. " We got to get back on our ship, it looks like this one will give out any minute thanks to Precious!"

All the hyraxes, Crash and Eddie scurried on our ship up to our ship following Manny with Sid and Granny on his back.

Just as I was about to sprint, I saw Shira struggling to run.

"Guys, go on without me!" she shouted out to us. "Save yourselves!"

"No, we're not leaving you Shira!" I shouted back to her.

"But-"

"No buts, you're coming with us and that's final!"

Even though Shira didn't show it much, I knew she was just trying to be dramatic and had an "oh thank goodness look in her eyes. She ran behind me until I noticed her panting hard and nearly about to tumble onto the floor. I knew what she was going through, except I didn't have any hormone problems. Since Shira was barely able to walk, I slid her onto my back and ran with her as fast as I can.

"I'm not too heavy am I?" She asked me.

"No, no, you're light as a feather." I lied. Truth is she was heavy thanks to being pregnant, but she was enough for me to carry her on my back.

We had perfect timing too because I soon as we ran onto our ship, the pirates' ship collapsed into chunks of ice and slush. We were lucky we all got out when we did or else we would be joining the pirates in their possible watery grave.

…

**Squint's POV**

We lost. Again. I can't believe, all that hard work, fighting, revenge plans, all for nothing! That blasted herd ruined us again, the traitor got away, and we're all floating on a dim-witted 4,000 pound seal. CAN IT GET ANY WORSE?!

"It's ruined." muttered Gutt. "All our hard work, just wasted. WASTED!"

Poor guy. I did my best to comfort him.

"It will be alright Captain." I tried to reassure him.

"How?" he sobbed.

"We can find them and get revenge on them when they get home."

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT SQUINT!"

"My fault?" I asked. "How?"

"If you weren't so hot-headed then Shira wouldn't have gotten away!"

"But Raz kicked her overboard, so that surely means she's gone right?"

"SHE GOT SAVED BY A WATER BLAST! You know what? You're a failure! This is what I get for having a bunny rabbit as my First Mate!"

"What are you saying Captain?"

"Raz!" Gutt yelled at her.

"Yes sir?" she asked hesitantly hopping up to him.

"You're my new first mate!"

Her face perked up. "Me?" she asked. "As in, me?"

Gutt nodded.

"YEAH!" she jumped up punching the air. "I knew I was always First Mate material!" she stood up in pride.

"WHAT?!" I angrily protested. "WHY HER?! SHE DIDN'T WANT YOU AROUND WHEN WE RESCUED YOU, SHE TALKED BACK TO US, SHE STOOD UP FOR THE TRAITOR AND GOT BEATEN UP BY AN OLD LADY!"

"Yes, but she proved herself worthy in battle." said Gutt.

I can't believe this! This was a serious déjà vu moment. I got Shira-ed! Of course I'm not going to be like Shira and join a herd. I've got two options. One, do my best to regain my position as first mate, and two, murder Gutt and become captain myself, and so far, option 2 seems more possible to do. So far, we'll just have to wait and see. We'll have to wait and see.

…

**Normal POV**

"Yeah we did it!" Crash cheered. "We kicked some pirate booty!" he and Eddie were celebrating their victory with the hyraxes and Sid while Granny was feeding Precious while the whale propelled the boat, Manny was looking to see if the horizon is in view, Shira was resting and Diego was on the lower deck fishing.

"From the looks of it we should be home by tomorrow." announced Manny.

"Hey." Shira woke up from her cat nap to see Diego in front of her with a big trout in his mouth. "I caught you a fish."

"Thanks." Shira smiled. After hours of not eating she was starving. Still she didn't want to hog the fish to herself so she took a few bites at a time to leave some for Diego.

"Well for someone who's pregnant hasn't eaten all day you don't look all that hungry." commented Diego.

"Well I'm not going to let you starve because of me." the couple both chuckled.

"Shira, I'm sorry." Diego apologized.

"For what?" asked Shira.

"For yelling at you like that the other day. If I didn't do that you wouldn't be captured by Gutt and when you fell over board I thought I lost you there. If you're mad at me I understand."

"Mad at you? Are you kidding me. You risked your life with Manny, Sid and the others to save me. You got there before Gutt was about to do something horrible to any of us. You carried me back on to the ship because you care about me. How can I be mad at you for that."

"Hmm, that's a good point."

Shira grinned. "If anyone should be sorry it's me. I really need to learn to keep my mood swings in control. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." said Diego as he rubbed his head against Shira's stomach.

"So how did the cubs deal with all of this?" Diego asked.

"They got through it well." Shira smiled.

"Looks like their little fighters already."

"Good thing you came when you did. You know how small and helpless baby sabers are when they're born and who knows what Gutt would do to them."

"Yep. This day has had perfect timing."

Shira slowly started groaning in pain. After months of dealing with his pregnant mate, he knew the problem right away.

"Those cramps never give anyone a break huh?" asked Diego. Good thing he brought the plant. Even though Shira hated it, he was going to do anything to keep her out of pain, even if he has to wrestle her to take them.

"I know you're going to nag me to eat that thing so I'll just suck it up no matter how bitter it tastes." said Shira.

"Well since you're being a big girl about it, I'll eat it with you." Diego said truthfully.

Shira grinned evilly to herself. This should be good.

On the count of three both the sabers gulped the plant down. Shira already got used to the bitter taste. Diego on the other hand was twitching and shivering at the flavor.

"Now you know what I went through?" Shira smirked at Diego.

"Bleh, you weren't kidding when you said it tastes like Sid smells." Diego grimaced.

"Lesson learned, you'll take my word for it next time I tell you when something tastes bad." Shira piped up.

"Don't push your luck kitty." Diego eyed Shira jokingly.

The saber couple joked until they noticed a goofy look on Crash, Eddie, Sid and Granny's faces.

"What's with them?" Shira asked.

"Sid." the female sloth sang. "I absolutely don't care about looks in a male."

"I'm that male." Sid sighed dreamily.

"Granny," a husky voice from the muscular sloth called out to the elderly woman. "Come with me and I shall take you for the best night of your life." (not _that_ way!)

"Granny still likey." Granny drooled.

"Crash, Eddie," two voices that belonged to two beautiful female possums, one with long blonde hair and green eyes, and another one with short, dark brown hair and brown eyes sighed to them in unison.

"They're hot." Crash drooled.

"We just LOVE possums who play pranks." the blonde female possum cooed.

"And possums who put their lives in danger because of stupid risks." the brunette possum added in.

"That's us." Eddie sighed.

Diego stared at the two possums and sloths in confusion until he realized it. He didn't get affected because Shira was standing right next to him and the same went for Shira.

"Oh no. SIRENS!" he cried out.

"We got to warn them!" Shira added in.

"I hope Manny didn't get affected by it." Diego said worriedly.

Manny did however see the sirens in the form of Ellie and Peaches, but he kept himself from getting affected by it by thinking to himself, "She would never say that. Ellie would never say that I'm always right."

"Manny!" Diego yelled to his friend.

"What is it?" Manny asked. Diego was relieved to see that Manny was not mesmerized by the creatures.

"We're coming near sirens!" Diego warned.

"I know." Manny replied. "I'm turning this thing around." Manny pulled the branch that was used to stir the ship and turned it around roughly causing Sid to fall back and catch Granny in his arms and Crash and Eddie to kiss. **(another déjà vu moment!)** Luckily Manny was able to stir the ship away right before the herd was about to become dinner for the sirens.

"Phew, again that was a close call." Manny sighed in relief.

Crash and Eddie opened their eyes to find themselves kissing and it became and immediate slap fight.

That misfortune incident did show one good thing. The herd was halfway home.

**Done! Sorry it took a while. I had school and stuff. So the sirens made a comeback and I used some material from Ice Age 4 which belongs to Blue Sky Studios, NOT ME! And fun fact: one of the possum sirens that Crash and Eddie saw had my hair and eye color! If you want, you may guess on your reviews! Peace out! And I know it's still a few weeks away but I just want to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Because I'm going to my aunt and uncle's house on Thursday and I just wanted to shout it out to you in case I can't do it then. **


	13. Pains of Joy

**Chapter 13! Man I can't believe it, my first long story on Fan Fic! I'd tell you guys what happens but then that would just ruin the surprise, so just read!**

Manny slowly opened his eyes and rose to his feet. He looked up to see what he was hoping to see ever since they rescued Shira yesterday.

"The horizon." Manny said to himself. "We're almost home. Guys wake up!"

Sid fell off his branch at the sound of Manny's voice.

"What is it Manny?" yawned the sloth. "And if you want to tell me something can you keep it down?"

"Sid, the horizon is nearby, we're just a few minutes from home!" Manny announced.

Crash and Eddie were the next to wake up.

"R-r-really?" Crash asked nervously. "Right now?"

"Yes right now." answered Manny. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Uh..." Eddie slowly hesitated. He and Crash were just as excited as the rest of the herd to be home, but Ellie had no idea that they stowed away. "No, I'm just excited." Eddie then whispered to Crash, "What are we going to do? When Ellie finds out we stowed away she's gonna kill us."

"Just hope that Shira goes labor when we return and she won't talk to us about it for a while." Crash suggested coolly.

Diego woke up before Manny made his announcement.

"You hear that Shira?" He whispered to his sleeping mate, "We're almost home."

"AHH!" Shira screamed in pain.

"Wow, I guess she's overwhelmed by her mood swings." Sid chuckled.

Again, Shira screamed and winced her face in pain, curling up in a ball.

"Those must be some painful cramps." Eddie whispered to Crash.

"DIEGO!" Shira cried out in pain. "THEY'RE COMING!"

"What-, the cubs?" Diego asked in confusion.

"WHO ELSE?!" Shira growled in annoyance.

Diego mentally slapped himself. How could he even ask such an obvious question?!

The male saber nervously scattered around nervously. What was he going to do?! Darn it, he should have prepared in case Shira went into labor out on the seas!

"MANNY!" Diego cried out. "THE BABIES ARE COMING, THE BABIES ARE COMING!"

"Yeah, we know tiger." Manny said to him.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" Diego asked worriedly. "WE GOTTA GET BACK HOME ASAP!"

"We're more than halfway home."

"WELL MORE THAN HALFWAY'S NOT ENOUGH, GO FASTER!"

"AHH!" Shira screamed out in pain once again. Diego stopped his bickering with Manny to comfort his mate.

"Just go faster!" Diego commanded Manny.

"Well excuse me Lord Snappington, but I can't control winds or waves to go faster!" Manny said in annoyance.

Fortunately the bickering woke up Granny who heard everything loud and clear.

"Don't just stand there bickering ladies!" she snapped. "Just be patient, Precious had this handled! FULL STEAM AHEAD PRECIOUS!"

Obeying Granny's command, the whale propelled the ship even faster with her tail. Granny's "that a girl!" encouragements kept her going.

In just a matter of minutes, the ship docked and the whole herd found Ellie, Peaches and Louis waiting for them near the beach. Manny lifted Shira and put her on his back. He winced in pain as the female saber dug her claws in his back, but he did his best to ignore it and ran up to his family with the Diego, Sid and Granny following and Crash and Eddie hiding in Manny's hair to avoid detection by Ellie.

"Dad!" Peaches cried out happily running up to her father.

"You sure came back faster than-" Ellie stopped to see a pair of tails sticking out in Manny's hair. Eying them suspiciously, she pulled them out with her trunk to see that they were her naughty brothers.

"Hi Ellie." Crash squeaked in fear.

"Did you two sneak on the ship?!" Ellie asked with rage. "I can't believe this, do you have any idea how worried we were about you?! You are so-"

Shira's painful screaming stopped Ellie's scolding. She didn't have time to punish her brothers now, her friend needed birth support!

"We'll talk about this later." Ellie declared more calmly. "Right now we gotta help Shira!"

The entire herd ran to the nearest cave they could find. Manny gently put the laborious Shira on the ground as she kept screaming in pain.

Since Manny and Ellie seemed to know about childbirth the most, Diego let them take over.

"Okay here's what we're going to do," Ellie commanded. "Sid, Peaches and Louis, you guys go get Shira as much water as you can, she's gonna need it!"

"Yes ma'am!" Louis responded.

"Got it Mom!" Peaches said as she ran off with Louis to the stream.

"Why can't I stay?" whined Sid.

"Because you can't Sid." Diego frowned.

"But I never got any experience with childbirth so why don't I just stay and-"

"MOVE YOU JINX!" Granny hollered at her grandson. In fear, Sid took off with the mammoth and molehog.

Crash and Eddie stared at the screaming saber. They really didn't want to help give birth to babies.

"Since Sid, Peaches and Weiner will probably need some help with the water," Crash started. "It's only fair if-"

He and Eddie made a break for the entrance of the cave.

"Not so fast you two." Ellie placed her trunk in front of her brothers' path. "You ran off on me enough already, so it's only fair if you stay and help us." Ellie decided that her brothers' punishment will be to help out Shira while she's in labor.

The possums sighed in depression when they were stuck here.

Shira kept screaming in pain.

"Just breath Shira," Diego comforted his mate. "Remember, honey, deep breaths. Deep breaths."

Shira screamed even louder in pain. Everyone knew what that meant.

"A cub's coming!" announced Ellie.

"Come on Shira, push! Push!" Diego encouraged her.

Shira grunted loudly as she was struggling to push.

"I can't!" she cried. "I can't do it!"

"You can do it Shira!" Manny encouraged. "Just push!"

Shira kept pushing harder, and harder. Until she heard a small mewl.

"The first cub!" announced Ellie. "It's a boy!"

Diego turned to see the cub. He looked at his oldest son in awe and gently licked his head. He was a spitting image of him with his full tan coat.

But they still weren't done. Shira still had a few more babies to push out.

"Push Shira, push!" Granny shouted to Shira. "Pop those little suckers out, you can do it!"

At Granny's harsh, encouraging words, Shira was pushing even harder. It seemed about ten minutes until Ellie announced, "I see a head!"

Shira again pushed until the second cub, another boy popped out. This one also had Diego's tan coat, but had Shira's stripes and white paws. Again, Diego licked his head.

"We got the water!" huffed Peaches tiredly from running. She, Louis and Sid each had a turtle shell filled with water. "Sorry we took so long, uncle Sid dropped his water and we kept having to wait for him to refill the water."

Sid grinned sheepishly and changed the subject. "So how is it going so far?" he asked.

"Two cubs, both boys." Ellie said to Sid.

"Aw, they're so cute!" cooed Peaches.

"Yeah." sighed Louis.

Shira was still in labor, but at the sight of her sons she slightly calmed down and relaxed. Looking at her cubs made her know that all the pain was worth it.

"Here Shira," Diego slid one of the turtle shells filled with water up to his mate. "Drink up."

Taking Diego's advice, Shira kept taking gulps of water after every few breaths. The more the whole herd kept encouraging her, the more confident she felt with giving birth to her next baby. Another tiny mewl was heard and Shira's pain was gone.

Everybody looked at the last cub in awe.

"Is that the tail?" Sid asked Manny not wanting to make that embarrassing mistake again.

Manny briefly looked at the last cub. "Yes." he nodded.

"It's a girl!" Sid announced. "And she looks like her mother!"

Diego tip-toed up to his kids and nuzzled his daughter affectionately. Besides his mother, there were never much girls around in his family. Now he has his own flesh and blood.

The new saber parents looked at their trio of offspring. They were all curled up beside their mother, drinking her milk. Crash and Eddie looked down at the cubs about to break out in tears the same way when Peaches was born.

"Why are their eyes still closed?" asked Eddie. "Peaches opened her eyes right away."

"Sabers are different then mammoths." Diego explained. "They won't open their eyes for another few days."

"So what are you going to name them?" asked Peaches.

"Yeah what should we name them?" asked Shira.

Diego thought about it, then it hit him. "This one can be Cash," he pointed to the boy who looked like him. "That's Bobby." he pointed to the one who was a mix of Diego and Shira. "And I was thinking that maybe Shira could name our girl."

A good name popped up in Shira's head. "Remember that night before our little surprise? When we were in our hollow tree with all the flora around us?"

Diego saw where this was going. "Yeah." he grinned remembering that moment.

"I was thinking that we name her Flora." Shira suggested.

"Flora." Diego tested the name out. He loved the sound of it. "I like it."

"Why, aren't they adorable?" smiled Granny. "I haven't seen any babies so beautiful since Sidney."

"Aw Granny, you really mean that?" Sid asked.

"I sure do. You were one charming little baby when you were born."

Sid sighed happily at the compliment he received from his grandmother.

"Why don't we leave the five of you alone?" Manny said as he and Ellie were leading the rest of the herd away.

"We sure make some beautiful kids." Diego smiled at Shira.

"Yeah we do." Shira said with pride.

"We're the luckiest sabers alive."

"We sure are."

Diego rubbed his head against Shira's, then he gently did it again his cubs. He still couldn't believe that he and Shira are parents, but that's what made the love grow even bigger.

Unfortunately, little did they know that a certain booby has been secretly watching them, and once he saw it, he flew back and reported it back to his crew who were camping back near the woods.

Squint, still very pissed that he was stripped off his first mate position was brutally attacking wooden dummies resembling everybody he hated with his sword. Even Raz for taking his position of authority.

Silas flew down and landed on Gutt's shoulder whispering him the news.

"Oh is that so?" Gutt evilly grinned. "Then why don't we drop by and drop the new parents a little gift." He unsheathed his sword. "Now who's with me?"

"Yeah!" the crew cheered eagerly.

Gutt was originally going to just gut Diego and the others in front of Shira, but now that she had her babies, he was going to switch tactics.

**Yay, the cubs are born! But Gutt now has something new in mind. What's going to happen next? Stay tuned!**

**And some name acknowledgments. I named the boy cubs Cash and Bobby after the bobcats I saw on a field trip to a wolf preserve with my science class(there were bobcats and foxes too). There were three bobcats, two boys and one girl. But the girl wasn't named after the other bobcat. No, Flora is my mom's assistant's name and I just loved the sound of that name that I just had to give a girl saber such a pretty name and I was glad to find out from my mom that her assistant was flattered by it and that she loves tigers! :) But the cub Flora will be based on the personality of my good friend from middle school! :)**

**Stay tuned and please review! **


	14. Gutt's Last Straw

**Chapter 14! Enjoy.**

The morning really slipped through everybody's hands. It was evening now and everybody was either sleeping or going to sleep. The saber family were all sleeping pressed near each other peacefully. Shira rested her head on Diego's back. Diego had one paw on Shira's, and the other one curled around his cubs. The cubs' heads were pressed onto their mother's belly. This would probably not look much like a typical saber scene to outsiders considering they were never really that affectionate. But to some certain, vengeful animals, it was just the perfect scene for another kidnapping.

"Be quiet!" Raz whispered sternly to Squint after he stepped on a twig.

"Why, what did I do?" asked Squint accusingly. Ever since Raz was named as new First Mate, she's been even more bossier.

"You stepped on something, watch where you're stepping!"

Like that was going to be easy for Squint. Since Gutt wanted the cubs alive, Raz had to empty her pouch of all the weapons in order to carry the cubs in it to prevent them from getting stabbed by them. Whatever weapons weren't left in the camp had to be carried by Squint. Even though it was only two swords and a knife, the weight was still overwhelming for the rabbit. He did his best to be quiet.

"There they are." Raz whispered fixing her eyes on the cubs.

"They're actually so adorable." Squint said half truthfully and half sarcastically. "It almost makes it a shame to kill such precious little things."

Squint and Raz shared an evil snicker before Raz quietly hopped over to where the cubs were sleeping. Slowly, she took each cub one by one by the scruff of their necks and stuffed them into her pouch. She frowned when she grabbed Flora.

"Some saber you are," scowled Raz at the girl. "You barely even got fangs." Yes it was true. One of the cubs was born with that defect. Both Diego and Shira noticed that but they never brought it up. Normally if a saber was born with the slightest thing that seemed wrong with them, it was abandoned by the pack, but since Diego and Shira didn't live with a pack anymore, the rules didn't apply and they love their kids no matter how they turned out.

Right when Raz had all three of the cubs in her pouch, one of let out a small cry. The other two did the same.

Rats. Even though Raz and Squint had no knowledge of babies, they just remembered one thing. They cry when they're separated from their parents.

The crying started to wake Diego up. As he opened his eyes to see his cubs gone and a familiar bunny and kangaroo sneaking off, his first instinct was anger.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE DOING?!" he snarled at the kidnappers.

"Let's scram!" Squint gasped. Raz nodded her head in agreement as they both hopped out.

"Diego, what's happening?" Shira yawned waking up. She gasped as she noticed the cubs were gone and that their crying was becoming distant from Raz and Squint's running.

"No." sobbed Shira about to break out in tears.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back. Come on!" Diego sprinted off with Shira following. The two sabers gave chase to the kidnappers.

"We got to run faster!" Squint cried out in fear.

"No," Raz objected. "We got to get them to follow us to Gutt, remember?"

As the chase scene was happening, Crash and Eddie were sitting on top of a tree playing "I Spy".

"Your turn bro." said Crash to Eddie.

"Okay, I spy with my little eye... DIEGO AND SHIRA CHASING THE CRAZY KANGAROO AND BUNNY WHO TOOK THEIR KIDS!"

"Eddie, that's way too specific."

"That's not what I spy, LOOK!" Eddie turned Crash's head down to the chase scene going on with Diego, Shira, Raz and Squint.

"Aw man, it's like those guys are indestructible." Crash groaned hoping that the crew was toast by the time the ship was destroyed.

"We got to warn the others!" Eddie announced as he and Crash began swinging tree from tree.

"I knew there was a reason why possums are nocturnal!" Crash cried out in pride.

Diego and Shira were gaining on the kids' kidnappers. By the time they stopped, they were at the pirates' camp.

"How nice of you two to stop by." Gutt mockingly greeted the couple. "Congratulations on your little gifts. And of course I'm very sorry for your soon to be loss."

"Where are our babies Gutt?" Shira growled in a dangerous tone.

"Oh don't worry mommy dearest they're not harmed. At least not yet." Gutt snapped his fingers. "Raz?"

On her master's cue, Raz reached into her pouch and held all three of the cubs by the scruffs of their neck.

"Let them go Gutt!" Shira roared at the ape. "Or you'll be very sorry!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Gutt shook his head. "You see I've been planning vengeance on you for ruining my reputation for months now. MONTHS. And they kept varying at each attempt. This is my last straw for that, so don't try any negotiating or sacrifices or anything because your precious little babies are getting slaughtered in front of you right here, right now!"

"NO!" Shira sobbed.

"Now which one to start with first?" Gutt looked at each cub and decided the perfect one.

"How about this little misfit?" he plucked Flora from Raz's hands and slowly started to raise his claws towards the female cub.

Shira's temper began boiling up. This wasn't just any old ice cold furiousness. This was the type of feeling a female saber only gets on special occasions. It wasn't anger. It was something much worse than anger. It was motherly instincts, and you should never mess with a female when she starts to get them.

"I SAID LET THEM GO YOU WALKING CARPET!" shrieked Shira as she roughly pounced on the ape. Once she had Gutt pinned down she sunk her fangs into his right arm, causing him to screech in pain. As the grip on Flora loosened, Diego ran up to his daughter to comfort her. He then turned to Raz and growled menacingly at her. Immediately she surrendered, placed Cash and Bobby in front of him and hopped away.

"We got the news, are we too late?" Manny ran up with Ellie, Peaches, Sid, Granny, Louis, Crash and Eddie behind him.

"No, no." Diego said casually wrapping his paw around the cubs protectively. "In fact you're just in time to see Shira savagely hurt Gutt because he was stupid enough to mess with her motherly instincts."

As the herd watched Shira attacking Gutt brutally, they all had different expression.

"Ouch." hissed Sid.

"That's gonna leave a mark." added in Ellie.

"This is NOT for youngsters to see." said Manny as he placed his trunk on Peaches' eyes. Peaches pushed her father's trunk off with hers.

"Dad." Peaches sighed annoyingly rolling her eyes.

Louis just fainted.

Crash, Eddie and Granny were especially excited to watch it.

"STICK HIM SHIRA, STICK HIM!" Crash yelled out to Shira.

"SHOW THAT MONKEY WHO'S BOSS!" Eddie added in.

"This is the best fight I've ever been to!" Granny sighed happily kicking back. "We got good seats too. It was worth the price of admission!"

Shira raised her paw at Gutt, unsheathed her claws and brought it down across Gutt's face, leaving him four scratch marks on his left side.

"POWNED!" Eddie shouted out standing up waving both of his arms down. He just realized on of his great moments. "I just invented The Wave!"

The crew wasn't making the slightest effort to help their captain out. Instead they just sat their amused by the fight.

"We should probably help him." Gupta pointed out.

"Yes, we should." added in Silas. There was a slight pause.

"NOT!" the crew said in unison and continued watching Shira attack Gutt.

Thunder boomed in the sky and rain poured out of the clouds.

"Shira," Gutt's voice shook in pain and agony. "Please, have mercy." the ape pleaded.

"Have mercy on _you_?" Shira spat. "Don't make me laugh Gutt."

"Shira, please spare me,"

"Give me one good reason why I should."

"I'm the one who took you under my wing when you left your pack."

"That's not enough Gutt."

"All this crazed act of revenge wasn't even my fault, it was the rest of the crew's fault!" lied Gutt. "Squint and Raz planned everything!"

The whole crew who have been listening had shocked expressions on their faces, including Raz and Squint.

"Oh no he didn't." Raz shook her head in attitude. Gutt dragged them through his crazy revenge and he blames it all on them? That was low even for him.

"You're lucky I'm not in the position to kill you Gutt." Shira snarled at the ape. "Leave."

"What?" Gutt trembled.

"Don't make me say it twice. LEAVE BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!" And with that, Shira stalked off back to her family.

"Are you okay?" Diego asked Shira with great concern in his voice.

"I'm fine." Shira answered with all negative feelings leaving her. "Are the cubs alright?"

"Yep, not a scratch on them. I was really worried that they were done for."

"Well we're very lucky. One split second and we would be having a funeral right now." Shira scooped the cubs up near her and they began to drink her milk. From now on, she and Diego will be keeping a very close eye out on them.

…

Gutt struggled to walk. Shira had really severely wounded him. At least he was able to return to the comfort of his crew. Or was he?

"My friends," Gutt started. "It gives me great pain to announce that my plan failed."

"Your plan?" asked Squint menacingly. "Don't you mean _our _plan." he scowled "our" with such sour emphasis showing that the entire crew overheard Gutt blaming the entire thing on them.

"Yeah, because that's what you said back there." Gupta growled at his captain.

For the first time ever, Gutt had a look of defeat in his eyes. He was truly outnumbered.

"Squint, Gupta, let me explain." Gutt tried to say.

"Tie him up boys." Raz commanded. "And take him to the nearest, deepest trench."

…

"You ungrateful band of misfits!" Gutt muffled with his mouth that was gagged with big bundle of leaves and his entire body tied. "I make something out of your pathetic lives and this is how you thank me?! You ought to get keelhauled, thrown overboard, eaten by a sea monster. This is mutiny I say! MUTINY!" Those were the last words of Captain Gutt as he got thrown into the trench by the crew.

"Bye Captain, have a safe trip!" Flynn waved innocently down at the trench.

Gutt was defeated and this time, gone for good.

**DONE! So just one more chapter after this and an epilogue! I will let you know what things I have planned in future posts so just kick back, relax and wait! And I know I said this before but if I'm not online in a few days, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :)**


	15. Goodbyes

**Chapter 15. Sorry it's late. I was at my aunt and uncle's house in New York for Thanksgiving as I have mentioned before. It was so fun! If you guys live in the States, how was your Thanksgiving? (just out of curiosity) Enjoy!**

It has been one week since Gutt was defeated. After seeing the error of rescuing him and successfully able to dispose of him, they had all apologized to the herd for their actions and although hesitant at first, the herd had forgiven them, even letting the pirates stay on the island with them after saying that they want to live on land for a few days. It was now time for the crew to go. It was especially disappointing for the herd after getting to know their non-homicidal side.

"Are you sure you guys don't want to stay?" Shira asked Raz as they were starting to load cargo on the ship that was given back to them.

"Thanks for the offer Sheila," answered Raz. "But our place is out on the seas."

"That's completely understandable."

"I just want to thank you."

"What for?"

"For helping us realize that Gutt is not who he said he is. You were the first one to notice it, but we're the idiots who had to rescue him when we found them adrift. It took us until last week to find that out."

"Hey, better late than never." the two females chuckled at Shira's joke.

Squint approached the laughing saber and kangaroo.

"Hey Shira," Squint stuttered. He felt so awkward saying something that was not threatening to someone who he had held a grudge against for so long. "No hard feelings about tying you to the mast and making fun of you and all that other stuff?"

"No hard feelings Squint." Shira smiled warmly. No matter how much he got on her nerves and taunted her, she was able to forgive him.

"And we're both very sorry about kidnapping your kids." Squint spoke both for Raz and himself when he said that.

"You're just lucky they're unharmed." said Shira to Squint. Even though she forgive and forgot, she's still peeved about that.

"So where are the little rascals?" asked Raz.

"They're just out playing with their daddy." answered Shira.

Diego fell to the ground on his stomach after sliding on a hollow log that was used as a slide. He heard some tiny mewls echoing and getting closer to him. One by one each cub landed on him. Cash and Bobby cuddled near their father, purring while rubbing their heads lovingly near his shoulder. Flora climbed up Diego's head and sat on it.

"Enjoying the view?" Diego playfully asked his daughter. Flora tried to keep her balance but her tiny, shaky legs gave out and she slipped off. Luckily Diego caught her with his paw and set her down next to her brothers.

A few feet away Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Sid, Louis, Granny, Crash and Eddie were watching.

"I never thought Diego would grow to be such a family man." said Manny.

"Then again in this herd, anything can happen." Ellie reminded everyone of the adventures they all went through.

"Diego is acting so cute right now." Crash groaned adding in a stink eye to his face and sticking out his tongue obviously disgusted by the sight.

"I know, it makes me want to puke." Eddie agreed having the same facial expression as Crash.

"I think it's cool to see Uncle Diego playing with his kids." Peaches voiced out her opinion.

"Yeah it really shows that he loves them." nodded Louis in agreement with his friend.

"Having fun?" Shira walked in to see the kids laughing as Diego played peekaboo with them.

"You bet." nodded Diego. "Those little bundles of joy grow on you quick."

"Well the crew is about to take off and I'm just getting the others to say goodbye to them."

"I'm right behind you."

The whole herd got together to say goodbye to the crew. Suddenly without warning Cash sprinted off before anyone can blink. He just started to walk two days ago and caught on well. Now it turned to running. He was so quick that nobody was able to keep up with him. Except maybe his brother Bobby. Flora on the other hand was still struggling to take her first steps. It was so hard for her that she still needed somebody's help whether it was climbing something or just taking a very short walk. Although Flora was still trying to walk she was an early bloomer with two things. She opened her eyes in just a day, something that was very rare for sabers and when Cash and Bobby opened their eyes, Flora squeaked out her first word. Diego was especially pleased considering it was "Daddy".

"Cash wait!" Shira called to her son. She turned to Diego. "You ran after him enough today so I'll go."

"You sure?" asked Diego. He knew from personal experience that it was exhausting having to keep up with Cash most of the time.

"Yeah we both got to do our share of our commitment." replied Shira before running after Cash.

Knowing that Shira will need some back-up, Diego ran after her.

"Cash come on this game isn't so fun for Mommy." panted Shira. Cash laughed playfully completely clueless to the fact that his mother is exhausted from chasing him.

Right when Shira caught up with Cash she didn't see a thin branch in front of her thus getting it flung in her face.

"Ow." Shira rubbed her nose painfully.

"You okay?" Diego asked his mate trying not to snicker.

"Well considering a branch just got flung in my face I'm fine." Shira answered. "He's so stubborn."

"I'm telling you he gets it from you." Diego knew that Shira was referring to Cash. Shira was quite a stubborn saber and now one of her kids inherited it from her.

"Ha, ha, ha." Shira laughed sarcastically.

"Let's go catch our little runaway." Diego said as he and Shira continued their pursuit.

As the parents finally caught up to Cash, nature once again slowed them down. Diego ran up behind his son about to stop him when Shira yelled out, "Diego, look out!"

Diego looked to see what Shira was warning him about only to end up running through a hollow, narrow log and ending up getting his front half stuck in it while Cash easily ran to the end.

"I warned you." snickered Shira.

"I hear you laughing." said Diego in annoyance. "Now you mind helping me out of this thing?"

Shira wrapped her paws around Diego's waist and grunted trying pulling him out of the log.

"Ow, ow, ow ,ow! Take an easy there would you?" Diego calmly asked. "Keep that up and you'll only have half of me out."

"It's not my fault you're fat." Shira smirked at her comeback.

"I'm not saying it. That's Manny's punchline."

"Are we interrupting something?" Shira turned to see the rest of the herd walking up to them. Bobby was walking near Sid and Peaches was carrying Flora with her trunk.

"No I'm just trying to get Diego out of here."

"Diego why are you stuck in a log anyway?" Sid asked innocently.

"Oh I don't know, it just seemed like so much fun." Diego sarcastically answered.

"Pay no attention to the sarcastic comments inside the saber and please help me pull him out of here." said Shira..

Manny and Ellie each took Diego's back legs and pulled him out the same way Shira did. Hard.

"Gee Diego would it kill you to lose a little weight?" Manny asked strained from the pulling.

"Look who's talking." pointed out Diego.

"I think you've known me long enough to know that I'm just poofy."

"Whatever you say."

Finally Diego was successfully pulled out of the log. He was sore all over from the pulling.

"Looking for someone?" Raz chuckled as she pulled out Cash from her pouch and placed him in front of his parents.

"Well if it isn't the one that got away." Diego greeted his son. "We better keep you on a leash for now you little rebel."

"Thanks Raz." Shira thanked her friend. "Where did you find him?"

"He was just ran around, climbed a rock, jumped on Flynn's stomach and ended up in my arms, the little ankle biter."

"It tickled." Flynn laughed recalling Cash jumping on him.

"Anyways, as much as we hate to say it, we gotta get going. Thanks for everything."

"Don't mention it." Manny smiled.

"Well let's get going!" announced Squint. "We got seas to be at!"

The herd waved goodbye as the the crew took off on their ship that Manny had given back to them. After all they needed it more than them.

"Bye!" Shira waved to her former shipmates.

"Now that they're not going try and kill us, I'm sure going to miss them." Ellie admitted.

"Well they got their places and we got ours." said Manny. "Let's keep it that way."

This was the start of blissful peace.

**Done! Please review and I will tell you guys what I got planned soon!**


	16. Epilogue

**Wow last chapter already! It seems like only a month ago when I posted the first chapter. (sniffle) :') But you guys will find out what other things I will have in store this month. :) So I know it's short but that's all I was able to think of. So this is just a Squint and Raz bonding moment. Enjoy! :)**

"Heck of a week huh?" asked Squint nudging Raz's arm as they both stood on top of the mast.

"You can say that again." Raz smiled. "That was one twist of events."

"Well there is one thing that I was wondering about since we got rid of Gutt."

"What?"

Squint opened his mouth to speak but then hesitated.

"What were you wondering?" Raz asked in confusion.

No answer.

"You were about to say something, tell me."

"Well..." Squint hesitated again. "Never mind."

"What was it?"

"I'm not sure you want to listen since you're pretty much captain now that Gutt's gone and I don't think my opinion really matters..."

"Nah I'm not taking up the position as captain."

"What? But-but you earned it."

"Only because Gutt was pissed at you and gave the First Mate position to me. That's no way to earn it. It's only fair if you got it back."

"Really?" Squint couldn't believe it. He was Captain now! But he had a better idea. "As flattering as that is, I was thinking of something else. If you want to hear it I mean."

"Go ahead." Raz chuckled.

"You know how that herd's living such a peaceful, loving life? I was thinking that maybe we should do the same."

"A rag tag group like us?"

"Of course we can still be feared, just have each others' backs this time."

Raz smiled. "I like the sound of that. It won't kill us to try it out."

Even though the crew had been vicious and blood thirsty since they could remember, deep down inside they were a family. A violent one, but still.

**The End**

**Once again, short. So a lot of you have been asking in your reviews if there will be a sequel. Just sit back and read what I have planned out so far.**

**A Rag-Tag Bunch: This story will take place before all the events of Ice Age and they will focus on the pirates who are kids at the time. It was a request by MBSAVfan1 and I am currently brainstorming for it so if you have any ideas, don't hesitate to PM them to me! :) Same goes for requests!**

**A Mammoth Christmas: The Bedtime Story: So as the title suggests, it's just the events of A Mammoth Christmas told as a story by Diego and the others to the cubs. Since I'm a holiday person it should come out on Christmas Eve or Christmas.**

**Modern Day Party: A wacky and hilarious one shot where all the Ice Age characters come into my house and I teach them the ropes of modern life and we have a party! **

**An Unnamed Story: A sequel to TWOV which I can't think of a name for yet. I won't say much because I don't want to ruin it for you guys. All I'm saying is it takes a few years later after TWOV, the cubs are teenagers and someone returns. 3 guesses on who it is! **

**One shots and other categories: Just some one shots, mostly on my OC's Cash, Bobby and Flora and some other categories such as Madagascar, The Amanda Show, The Hunger Games, Warriors, etc. You will find out when I post them!**

**Please review while I go get a tissue and wipe my tears because I'm crying that I finished writing the story! (Okay I'm exaggerating but I'm really bummed that it's over already) But I have other things to work on now! :)**

**Thank you all for being such great readers and critics. You guys are the best! :D**

**Signed,**

**laughs4life **


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